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THE AMERICAN TROPICS 



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The American Tropics 

' NOTES FROM THE LOG 
OF A MIDWINTER CRUISE 



WITH il-LU5TRATIONS 



BY 
WILLIAM THOMAS CORLETT 




CLEVELAND 

THE BURROWS BROTHERS CO. 

1908 



8 



LIBRARY of GOfJGREsiT- 

Two Oupiss Received 

DEC 14 1908 






Copyright, 1908, by Wm. T. Corlett. 



^-373 



3*7 



CONTENTS 

Chapter I. — Southward on the Atlantic — [Finding 
Ourselves — Crossing the Sargossa Sea — ^First Landing, 
at St. Thomas — Charlotte Amalia. 

Chapter II. — Porto Eico and San Juan — St. Kitts 
— ^Dominica, the Home of the Caribs — Martinique; 
the Euins of St. Pierre; Fort de France. 

Chapter III. Barbadoesi the Populous — Trinidad — 
First Glimpse of South America — ^Pitch Lake — The 
Carnival and a Leper Hospital. 

Chapter IV. — Sailing on the Caribbean — Glimpses 
of the Spanish Main — ^Venezuela and Its Capital — 
Venezuelans and Their Government — Over a Spur of 
the Andesi — ^Vegetation in the Torrid Zone. 

Chapter V. — The Dutch West Indes — Colon the 
Pestilential — The Canal Zone — How the Work Goes 
On — The Ancient City of Panama. 

Chapter VI. — Shipboard Types — An Indignation 
Meeting — The Approach to Jamaica — Kingston and 
Environs — Concerning the Earthquake — On Jamaicans 
Headways — The Jamaica of Now and Then — Spanish 
Town — Two Famous Parks — Port Antonio — The Eace 
Question. 

Chapter VII. — Cuba the Liberated — Santiago as a 
Promised Land — The Harbor as a Temporary Eesi- 
dence — Havana; Some Improvements and Some Mem- 
ories — The Day They Celebrate. 

Chapter VEII. — The Bahamas, the Isles of June — 
Old Pirate Havens — Nassau and Its Sea-Gardens — 
Watling's Island (San Salvador) — Back to the Eealm 
of the Frost King. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



An Amateur Exploring Party 



Frontispiece -^ 



*'He Fat) a Stateroom on the Upper Deck, ^^fl'*C 



AND I Found Him . . . Mounting Aloft 
At St. Thomas Harbor 
Modern Merchandising in Porto Rico 
In the Suburbs of Porto Eico . 
One of the Finest, Porto Eico . 
The Astronomy Class .... 
Pelee and Euins of Martinique 
Street and Cathedral, Fort de France 
In the Shopping District, Bridgetown 
Walking on Great Pitch Lake, Trinidad 
Avenue op Palms, Port of Spain 
Caracas from Miraflores . 
Gran Hotel Klint, Venezuela , 
Eailway Station, Venezuela 
Farm House and Stables, Venezuela 

Wharf at Colon 

Types of New Dwellings, Canal Zone 

As It Was, Canal Zone 

A Street of the Newer Panama 

An Old Church, Panama 

After the Earthquake, Kingston . 

Another Kingston Instance 

Irrigation Ditch, Bog Walk, Spanish Town 

El Morro, Santiago .... 

The Cathedral, Havana 

Jn the Shopping District, Havana . 



14 

23 

37 

39 

42 

46 

50 

60 

65 

70 

75 

92 

100 

106 

109 

115 

126 

130 

136 

138' 

151 

154 

162 

175 

188 

191 



THE AMERICAN TROPICS 
CHAPTER I 

THE morning was clear and cold, with 
a crispness in the air that turned 
one's thoughts immediately to fur 
coats and steamer rugs. There was the usual 
commotion, the running to and fro one al- 
ways sees on an ocean steamer clearing for a 
long voyage. On deck and below there was 
the same eager, elbowing crowd of friends 
of the departing, blocking companionways 
and obstructing the handling of luggage. 
Everybody was talking in a high key, when 
suddenly — yes, startlingly so — the whistle 
blew with such a long, deafening, over- 
powerful, ear-splitting sound that, the very 
ship vibrating, a cannon would scarcely have 
been heard. My friend was saying: *'Do 

you " when a most helpless expression 

overspread his face; he endeavored to finish 
the sentence, until, discouraged, his lips 
ceased to move and he stood looking at me 
as if stricken with palsy. It was eleven 
o'clock; those not booked for the trip had 



The American Tropics 



gone ashore, the band struck up. Yes, we 
were moving — ^backing out of the slip into 
the broad North River, dotted with ice floes. 
Then there was much waving of handker- 
chiefs and peering of anxious faces to catch 
the last good-bye salutes as the huge mon- 
ster of the seas turned gracefully and 
steamed slowly down the bay. 

Who has not decided in his own mind at 
a first glance at his fellow-passengers on an 
ocean liner that the assembly is absolutely 
uninteresting, and been surprised afterward 
upon an inspection of the passenger list to 
find Herr von This and Herr von That reg- 
istered, together with a sprinkling of Barons 
and a Baroness or two ? Besides these, we 
had an Ober-schatsmeister of some provin- 
cial German city, an Herr Vice-President 
der Oberrechnungskammer Busse and his 
Frau Gemahlin, and a Kaiserlicher Regier- 
ungsrat Herr Dr. Hochwald von Schack. 
Mr. George Fitzsimmons Earl and valet 
were of course there, and Mrs. Gotrocks 
[12] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



Chester-Jones and maid. I wondered where 
these people were, expecting them to shine 
out with unusual splendor in the motley- 
gathering. 

Slowly we passed through the Nar- 
rows and Sandy Hook loomed up ahead as if 
to dispute the right of way, but we com- 
promised — as is the custom of pilots when 
there is a prospect of striking land ahead. 
Just as we thought the ship's course was set 
to plow through the high sand ridge, it be- 
gan to veer to port, at first impercep- 
tibly, then hard and harder until Sandy 
Hook was rounded. Almost everybody on 
deck was armed with a camera and quite 
naturally took a snapshot at the Goddess 
of Liberty, who, strange to say, stood un- 
moved, gazing into the distance as if she had 
more weighty thoughts. A guileless looking 
person, possibly from the middle west, or 
'way down east, and evidently somewhat 
hazy about the points of the compass, took 
a snapshot at Coney Island in the distance 
[13] 



The American Tropics 



far beyond range, and asked a bystander 
if tbe white object was the Sim Building; 
when told that it was the White Elephant she 
looked incredulous but finally considered it 
worthy to make a note of. At noon we were 
at sea, and a cold sea it was on that Thurs- 
day, the last day of January. 

After gazing thoughtfully, almost sadly, 
at the last landmarks, which seemed to wave 
their fond adieus as they disappeared from 
sight, one naturally devoted his attention to 
his immediate surroundings. My friend the 
Columbia professor had a state-room on the 
upper deck, and I found him, satchel in hand, 
mounting aloft and lookiQg in vain for his 
number on the state-room doors in the vicini- 
ty of the smoke-stacks. He was directed 
downward and investigated the next deck, 
the promenade deck, and still did not find 
his number. Finally he wandered down to 
ihe saloon deck where I was located and saw 
a sign at the head of the stairway pointing 
downward: "Zum obern deck.'* He has a 
[14] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



happy faculty of seeing the ludicrous and 
remarked that the decks must have been 
named when the ship was upside down. He 
seemed never to become accustomed to going 
down when he was supposed to go up, for 
every down-stairs, he observed, is marked 
as leading to upper something. 

The sea was smooth ; I overheard some one 
say there was no sea, but this I could hardly 
believe. At one o'clock the first luncheon 
was served; it was a solemn, uncomfortable 
repast, every one staring at his neighbor op- 
posite without the least sign of cordiality 
and eating as if he had come aboard for that 
express purpose; yet with many one could 
imagine an uncertainty in this preoccupation 
as if he were not quite sure of his power of 
endurance. Then there was the usual don- 
ning of golf caps, yachting caps and various 
head coverings; together with ulsters of 
many shapes and colors, indicating more or 
less the taste and social environment of the 
wearer. At four o'clock a long table was 
[15] 



The American Tropics 



spread on the lee deck, which was also the 
sunny side of the ship, and tea, coffee, sand- 
wiches and sweets were served. Soon the 
evening sun sank into his watery bed on our 
right — ^we were steaming southeast. After 
dinner, which was served at seven o'clock, 
the air was milder so that when walking on 
deck an overcoat was not needed. There was 
a choppy sea, but with a reputed steady boat 
of 12,000 tons no discomfort was felt by the 
ship 's crew, and even some of the passengers 
were present to hear the Captain's speech 
at dinner. A truthful report of the effort 
would not describe it as highly brilliant, nor 
was its effect enhanced by finding expres- 
sion in English, since it was very evident 
that the Captain was not born to that tongue. 
However the incident was not looked upon 
with disfavor, and the speaker was more ob- 
viously relieved than were his auditors when 
the duty was disposed of. 

An arrangement previously made with the 
bath steward for 6:45 a. m. proved almost 
[16] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



superfluous, as the port-hole in my room was 
in the ceiling over my bed and leading to the 
promenade deck. Of course it was open and 
promptly at four o'clock I was deluged by a 
stream of water intended to wash the deck — 
but I am fond of sea-water. Besides it gave 
me an early opportunity to note that it was 
several degrees warmer than in New York 
the morning before. 

The second day out, the first of February, 
was mild, moist, with patches of rain. The 
sea continued choppy. We were off Hatteras, 
but far to the eastward. The sea-gulls 
which had followed us had disappeared with 
the night. 

On the third day it was warmer with a gen- 
tle rolling sea, and at night the stars shone 
out with unwonted lustre. Orion was the 
most familiar constellation on account of his 
bejewelled sword-hilt and belt, but Sirius 
was the most bewitching gem of the heav- 
ens. The North Star and the Dipper were 



[17] 



The American Tropics 



nearer the horizon. Our general direction 
continued southeast. 

The fourth day marked an epoch in ship life. 
The officers appeared in white duck, and the 
lowest of deck-hands donned a white suit, 
or at least a straw hat. This latter embellish- 
ment was often grotesque and transformed 
the traditional Jack-tar into the conventional 
harvest hand of an American farm. With 
this official transformation, he who had not 
brought along at least a white cap and his 
last year's summer suit presented a sorry 
spectacle. My mind was occupied in devis- 
ing a suitable means of revenge on the person 
who settled my wavering mind on leaving 
by saying ''By all means take along a steam- 
er rug." 

But in this soft, seductive air re- 
vengeful thoughts make little headway. It 
was easier to lean over the railing and look 
at the beautiful indigo blue of the water, 
watching the spray from the ship spread 
out like white lace-work on the silken 
surface as we moved along. The sea was al- 
[18] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



most flat and glassy, wMle gently rolling, pro- 
ducing undulations like the breathing of the 
huge monster that it is. Apparently there 
were many new arrivals this morning. The 
deck chairs were nearly all occupied. The 
woman from the Far West — or some other di- 
rection equally significant — who sat opposite 
had come to life, although showing the 
withering effects of a sea voyage to one not 
yet immune. As the day wore on and the 
surface of the deep settled to a more stable, 
more horizontal condition, hope revived in 
many a breast and the erstwhile silent were 
heard again. Fields of sea-weed could now 
be seen; such observation, you remember, 
cheered the faltering spirits of Columbus's 
men on his first voyage. Only three ships 
had been sighted since leaving Sandy Hook. 
It was so warm at eleven o'clock that the 
mere exertion of writing made one perspire. 
The whole environment was soothing, sen- 
suous, delightful; some one was improvising 
on the piano, and the vague melody bore 
[19] 



The American Tropics 



one's thoughts away to the Isles of Balm. 

During the first two days we were in 
communication with the Marconi station at 
Cape Cod and New York, but now we were 
beyond the reach of news from the outside 
world. My friend the Columbia professor 
remarked that the line of the horizon seemed 
more circumscribed and the earth's plane 
smaller; so our observations being confined 
to a limited area the minutest details of the 
ship-world assumed proportionate import- 
ance. Gossip replaced the daily paper. The 
wonderful mysteries which surrounded us 
passed unheeded, however, by a very large 
number, who buried themselves in books 
covered with printers' ink, or more apatheti- 
cally whiled away the time with cards. It 
has often occurred to me as strange that more 
people do not prefer to enjoy luxurious loaf- 
ing at home, instead of subjecting themselves 
to the many annoyances of travel, when ap- 
parently they derive so little from it. 

The only serious duty of the day, after 

[20] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



taking a smart trot and a ride of a few miles 
on the camel in the gymnasium, was to pro- 
cure tickets for the land excursions. Here, 
too, I heard some one remark that he was all at 
sea. But none of us realized how completely 
we were adrift until we took up the subject 
of these excursions and endeavored to de- 
termine something definite concerning them. 
The printed circulars were assuring, of 
course, and held out attractions not hereto- 
fore offered, but old travelers are wary of 
excursions of all kinds ; so the Columbia pro- 
fessor, the doctor, and myself selected only 
those which, from our lack of definite data 
as to trains, we felt compelled to choose in 
order to be sure of re-embarkation. To be 
left, Crusoe-like, on an island with a Carib 
population is a situation not especially pleas- 
ant to contemplate. To tarry longer than 
exigencies required in the unsettled states 
which compose the Spanish mainland seemed 
scarcely judicious — so we erred, if err we 
did, on the side of safety. 

[21] 



The American Tropics 



As the day wore on and tlie sun neared 
tiie water-line, the clouds took on at first a 
golden then a reddish-purple tint, which 
changed to the most peculiar greenish color. 
It was the first time I had ever seen green 
clouds. They were not confined to any par- 
ticular part of the heavens, but were general, 
although most massed towards the horizon 
and most marked in the east opposite the 
sunset glow. We stood watching them slow- 
ly roll and change into various forms, all 
tinted with a rainbow green. The effect 
lasted until nightfall. 

The ship presented now her full comple- 
ment of passengers, some of them very much 
in evidence. With land ahead and the bul- 
letin's announcement that breakfast would 
be served at six in the morning and that im- 
mediately thereafter we were to land, no 
chair at dinner was vacant. I resolved to 
rise early for the distant view of St. Thomas, 
and to catch a glimpse of the first land seen 
since leaving the Atlantic Highlands, but 
[22] 



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A Midwinter Cruise 



my resolutions went awry and I was not on 
deck until we had dropped anchor in the 
beautiful amphitheatre-like harbor of Char- 
lotte Amalia, about a mile from shore. We 
were welcomed by a self-appointed reception 
committee which surrounded our ship in 
small boats of various shapes and sizes. The 
nominal occupation of these native boatmen 
is landing passengers, but as we were towed 
ashore by our own steam launches in the 
ship's boats, they were left to other devices, 
mainly diving for coins thrown from 
our decks. They certainly were expert swim- 
mers and seldom allowed a coin to reach a 
very great depth before overtaking it. As 
they wore no clothing worth mentioning, and 
as they did not trust their companions, 
each one, immediately on reaching the sur- 
face, deposited the coin in his mouth for safe- 
keeping. The cheeks of some of the more 
successful in time bulged out to the storied 
aldermanic fullness. As the first representa- 
tives of the Islands of the Blest they attracted 
[23] 



The American Tropics 



keen interest. One usually detects more of 
the African than the American in their physi- 
ogomies and there is so marked a divergence 
from any definite type that, with their color, 
which varies from mahogany to ebony, they 
readily revealed their mixed or mongrel ori- 
gin. 

The town of Charlotte Amalia, popularly 
called St. Thomas, the only one of any im- 
portance on the island, is built on three hills, 
the general surface of the land sloping up- 
ward from the sea and finally merging into 
the mountainous interior. The island is 
thirteen miles long, with an average width 
of only three miles. To the right as you 
enter stands Bluebeard's Castle surmount- 
ing a dome-shaped hill. The central hill is 
graced by the gray form of Blackbeard's 
Castle. The hill to the left is near the docks 
and seems to be given up to modem struc- 
tures of more utility. The town with its pic- 
turesque environment is charming and as 
we approached the landing the dark-skinned 
[24] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



officials attired in white duck presented a 
natty appearance. They were courteous, as 
was the population, which turned out to see 
us. 

I was surprised to find English spoken. 
In fact it seemed to be the prevailing tongue, 
although the official language is Danish. It 
is somewhat of a national disgrace to us that 
the island of St. Thomas belongs to Denmark. 
The air is humid, with rain clouds passing at 
frequent intervals. 

It seemed quite unnecessary to take a 
carriage, so we engaged the services of a 
young man to conduct us about the town. 
When one has the time and strength it is 
better to walk, as many opportunities are thus 
afforded of coming in contact with the peo- 
ple and of observing a thousand and one 
things that in driving might pass unnoticed. 
Our guide, attired in an immaculate white 
duck suit with patent leather shoes, was 
twenty-two, unmarried, black as a Nubian, 
but without the negro's features. Moreover, 

[25] 



The American Tropics 



he was educated, spoke understandingly, 
thougli guardedly, of the " Swettenham af- 
fair" when asked if he had heard of it, and 
seemed eager to conduct us to the cable 
office to read the latest bulletins. We plied 
him with all sorts of questions as we saun- 
tered along, and gathered, no doubt, an 
amazing lot of misinformation, ranging in 
subject from pickaninnies to pomegranates, 
and from religion to the revenue of the is- 
land. Although not what one might truth- 
fully call a walking encyclopedia, he seemed 
especially well versed in local mythology 
and appeared unduly eager to conduct us 
to Bluebeard's castle; but we found the 
streets leading thereto so full of life (every 
woman seemed to have a new baby which 
she carried astride on her hip) and the Col- 
umbia professor became so hopelessly ab- 
sorbed in the artistic ensemble and so inter- 
ested in the flora offering on all sides abun- 
dant opportunities for study, that naturally 
our progress was retarded. The doctor, too, 
[26] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



who was rear guard at the time, had cer- 
tain well matured proclivities accenting a 
penchant for obtaining information direct 
from its fountain source. So when the guide 
slackened his pace he was asked, without 
any warning, something like this: ''Will you 
kindly elucidate more in extenso the present 
trend of popular political thought ?'' Be- 
fore he could reply his questioner continued : 
*'Did the consensus of opinion acquiesce in 
the proposed transfer of allegiance from 
Denmark to the United States?*' The only 
immediate visible effect on the guide was the 
wilting of his collar, although when we dis- 
pensed with his services he demanded an ex- 
tra amount, which we promptly paid. 

The view from the round tower of Blue- 
beard's Castle is imposing; it commands the 
spacious harbor, the headlands in the dis- 
tance, as also the town with its red-tiled 
roofs and the surrounding country. Around 
the Castle are numerous pieces of cannon 
of various shapes and sizes, all showing age 
[27] 



The American Tropics 



and deteriorated by rust. They belong to 
the old buccaneer days. Many of them stand 
upright like posts ; as to whether or not they 
were thus placed to mark the last resting 
place of Bluebeard's seven wives we did not 
obtain authentic information. 

It is said that an underground passage 
formerly existed connecting this stronghold 
with that of Blackbeard, a brother pirate on 
a neighboring hill less than a mile distant 
and just beyond the center of the town. Ad- 
joining is the white stone villa of the Italian 
consul, with its beautiful garden. February 
is spring-time here and many of the flowers 
were just in bloom. A more charming home 
would be hard to find than this luxuriously 
embedded, though simple, cottage, looking 
down on an indigo sea. We did not call at 
the American consulate, but those who did 
reported that they found a cultivated negro 
family. Doubtless a more appropriate ap- 
pointment and one fitter to blend with the 
environment than would be one involving a 

[28] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



pitch-fork senator with Swettenham procliv- 
ities. 

Particularly interesting were the tropical 
plants and trees, their green foliage and 
bright flowers harmonizing with the delicate 
reds, greens and blues of the buildings, all 
soft in subdued light, but lighting up with a 
blaze of glory in the bright sunshine; the 
castor bean with its broad, dark-green pal- 
mate-peltate leaves, growing to a height of 
from eight to ten feet; small trees of pome- 
granate with their beautiful red trumpet- 
shaped flowers and their round apple-like 
fruit; the sweet-smelling thorned acacia, 
with here and there a gooseberry tree, its 
light green fruit clinging fungus-like from 
its branches. The fruit we were told would 
not be ripe until June. Stately, broad-limbed 
mahogany trees, giant trees and others as im- 
posing, overhung the broad avenue along 
which we passed. Of course there were majes- 
tic palms which seemed as natural to the 
place as camels to the desert — date palms, 

[29] 



The American Tropics 



cocoanut palms, and another which was 
pointed out as the mountain cabbage palm. 
A species of locust, the carob-tree, with its 
long, tongue-like pods, was also very plenti- 
ful and presented a striking appearance. It 
is known here as woman's tongue tree, prob- 
ably because Moses is supposed to have used 
the pods in sweetening the bitter waters of 
Marah. *'0 for a thousand tongues to tell;" 
and here they were^ — ^women's tongues, too! 
Abutting a small park stands a hospital of 
two stories and beyond, in a narrow street, 
a school was in busy session. We had pre- 
viously passed a Roman Catholic school in 
connection with the church, but here was a 
counterpart of the little red school house 
with its young woman teacher, having the 
traditional birch resting across her lap. It 
looked so promising as a source of informa- 
tion that one of us proposed that we enter. 
The building is situated slightly back from 
the street, and, like many structures in warm 
countries, has an open front, so that our en- 
[301 



A Midwinter Cruise 



trance,' camera in hand, was less formal than 
it might seem to be. Teacher and taught were 
black, or at least of a rich mahogany color. 
A reading class of the larger boys was recit- 
ing, and, standing where I could look over a 
boy's shoulder, I was able to follow them 
as they in turn stood up and read. It was 
difficult to understand on account of their 
peculiar intonation. On the street and when 
by themselves they use what is called *'flat 
English," a patois which makes it more dif- 
ficult for them to conform to even the simple 
diction of an English first reader. An es- 
pecially interesting feature to us was the 
teaching of less advanced classes by older 
boys who looked more like miniature slave- 
drivers with their inevitable birches than 
embryos in pedagogy. Aside from the rod 
as a means of enforcing discipline, an ex- 
pedient was adopted which I had never be- 
fore seen: that of standing the pupil on the 
floor before the whole school with his eyes 
shut. With three hundred and fifty pale- 
[31] 



The American Tropics 



faced and much clothed tourists in town, and 
the arrival of two war-ships in the harbor 
firing salutes, no wonder the row of six mis- 
creants who stood surreptitiously blinking at 
us felt the punishment most keenly, for it 
seemed more dreaded than the rod. We were 
told that the teacher received forty dollars 
a month and that attendance at school was 
compulsory, a fine of ten cents a day being 
imposed for absence between the ages of 
seven and thirteen. 

The merchants, especially the post-card 
and photograph shop-keepers, did a thriv- 
ing trade while we were in town. They were 
most courteous and liberal in their dealings 
so far as I could see. An instance will suf- 
fice: one of my friends, though inured to 
metropolitan life, became so provincialized 
by the quiet indolence and familiar faces of the 
long voyage, that in the throng of the shop- 
ping street and in the momentous process of 
selecting post-cards he departed tranquilly, 
leaving his camera on the counter. In time, 
[32] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



wishing to use it, lie became aware of its ab- 
sence, and, retracing bis steps, found it just 
as he had left it. Fortunately we did not en- 
counter any green goods men or exploiters 
of native gold bricks. 

Formerly sugar cane was largely culti- 
vated, but with the abolition of slave labor 
in 1848 this industry subsided. Bay rum is 
made here in large quantities and it is of 
superior quality. The grazing of cattle is 
said to be one of the main industries. The 
island is not especially fertile, nor are its 
people overburdened with wealth, as in the 
good old buccaneer days. 

Yet with its healthfulness, its climate and 
its transcendent beauty, it is in truth one of 
the Islands of the Blest. happy, peaceful 
Charlotte Amalia, queen of the summer sea! 

"Where cocoas grow, and mangoes, 
And groves of feathery palm, 
And nightingales sing all night long 
To roses breathing balm." 



[33] 



CHAPTER II 

THE novelty of the situation being some- 
what abated, the ship's world began to 
arrange itself much as it does on terra 
firma. Men and women with congenial 
minds or with like tastes and embellishments, 
conspicuous or otherwise, formed acquaint- 
anceships which rapidly matured under the 
favoring influences of the tropics into co- 
teries more or less exclusive. There was the 
professional politician from Indiana who 
could be heard several times a day — *'My 
plurality as sheriff was 39,000, while Roose- 
velt only got 40,000," etc. Another, the 
capitalist, whose place of residence seemed 
to be unsettled, after a few introductory re- 
marks, brought up the subject of prospective 
investments which had brought him south- 
ward. I could not dispel the illusion that 
*'the capitalist" had taken advantage of a 
short lull in the Grand Circuit proceedings 

[34] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



to quit' the turf for a time, possibly to re- 
cuperate his failing health or fortune — ^but 
my impressions are only impressions. 

Of course the congenial man was there 
who knew everyone on board, was very at- 
tentive to the ladies — excepting, possibly, his 
wife — ^had been in every place worth seeing, 
and who, had an election been held, would, 
without the formality of the usual caucus 
proceedings, have cut down the sweeping ma- 
jority of '*the sheriff" ten to one. He was 
what they call a good mixer. He not only 
penetrated the mystic circle of the "smart 
set" but soon assumed the role of leader, 
covering it as it were with a mantle of re- 
spectability, of learning, and, like the dome 
which graces the temple of astronomy on 
Mt. Hamilton and shines afar, his influence 
was paramount. Before his able leadership 
began, the smart set had been mainly dis- 
tinguished by a feat of one of its dashing 
beauties, who kicked off the Captain's cap 
when he appeared on the hurricane deck to 
[35] 



The American Tropics 



investigate the Mlarity following the im- 
bibing of a few bottles of schaumwein. It 
was said that the sun-cured, salt-dried old 
Captain of this staid Khiserliche ship looked 
surprised at his reception and said: *'Lady, 
you embarrass me. ' ' But none of these little 
eccentricities occurred after the smart set 
organized "The Knights of the Southern 
Cross," whose ostensible object was watch- 
ing, from the hurricane deck, this beautiful 
constellation rise from its watery bed at mid- 
night and project its holy emblem over a sin- 
cursed world. Aside from these various 
tjrpes which at least lent the charm of va- 
riety, the individual who must do something 
was in evidence. His activities took the form 
of raising a subscription and collecting a 
fund for the stokers and other employees of 
the Kaiserlicheamerikanischepackbootactien- 
gesellschaft, whose duties did not necessari- 
ly compel the passengers to pay their sal- 
aries. 
The run from St. Thomas to San Juan 



[36] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



takes five hours, but with luncheon and dis- 
tant headlands to occupy one's attention, we 
were steering along the coast of Porto Rico 
before we realized it. Then the frowning 
old fortress loomed up in the distance. It 
seemed strange to see the American flag 
floating from this old Spanish stronghold. 
With our glasses we could see soldiers in 
khaki suits walking about on the ram- 
parts. To the right on a rocky island is a 
whitish building which I afterwards learned 
is the Leper Hospital (with twenty-eight in- 
mates), admirably situated for an isolation 
hospital ; then we rounded El Morro and en- 
tered the broad harbor or bay where numer- 
ous craft lazily basked in the evening sun. 
Yes, we were at Porto Rico. How often of 
late years when our eyes beheld the name 
had we endeavored to picture with the 
mind's eye some vague outlines of its appear- 
ance ! San Juan stands high on a bluff with 
an undulating surface extending upward and 
backward from the sea. On the opposite side 



The American Tropics 



of the bay one can make out wooded low- 
lands, backed by the serrated outline of 
mountains. The band struck up ''America,'^ 
while the ship stirred up the mud; in fact, 
there was an impression that we were stuck 
in the mud, but this Avas an error, for after 
changing her position, as if to rest more 
comfortably, the engines ceased throbbing 
and the anchor dropped. 

The town is built mainly of masonry in 
the old Spanish style, the buildings abutting 
the sidewalk, the streets narrow. More 
people live in the business section than is 
common in American cities. Few glazed win- 
dows are seen except in the more modern 
houses in the suburbs. Wooden shutters are 
used instead, and during the evening these 
are thrown open showing the family sittin.tc, 
reading or entertaining apparently as uncon- 
scious of being observed as if they were in 
the seclusion of a castle with portcullis and 
moat. In fact the contrast between a San 
Juan dwelling with its front thrown open 

[38] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



directly on the street and the walled privacy 
of an English house is most striking. 

Life is less strenuous here than in an 
American city, but people seem to get along 
quite as well and get as much enjoyment 
from life as we do. Naturally, the change 
from Spanish to American regime made a 
certain amount of uncertainty inevitable, and 
society may now be considered still unsettled. 
The older people who had regal privileges 
and emoluments must feel the difference with 
disappointment. A comparatively small 
number, I imagine, are thus affected, while 
the younger generation and some of the more 
intelligent of the people less favored by for- 
tune, are glad of the change. The ma- 
jority of the islanders are probably 
now dominated less by priests than by 
politicians, who, like weeds in new-tilled 
ground, if not discouraged at the root, grow 
faster for the upheaval. Neither is the pro- 
moter conspicuous by his absence, and one 
hears of schemes promising large returns and 

[39] 



The American Tropics 



investments paying a high rate of usury. 
The island seems to be prosperous, but its 
greatest hope for the future lies in the weU- 
equipped schools — and there are many in 
San Juan and Ponce — established by the 
American government. Spanish is the lan- 
guage used, but English is taught and many 
of the younger people make some attempt at 
speaking it. 

The streets in San Juan not only serve as 
roadways, but they, with the parks and 
squares, are places of meeting. Everything 
is in plain view, the shops show all their 
wares, and the band plays in the plazas Sun- 
day afternoons and on certain evenings. It 
seemed strange on inquiring one's way of a 
policeman wearing the United States army 
uniform and armed with a club and pistol to 
find that he spoke no English. I was told 
that some of the people object to having the 
streets thus patrolled by policemen who are 
in fact United States soldiers. ''We have al- 
ways gotten along without them," they say, 

[40] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



**and "w-liy not now?" It would not be dif- 
ficult to find men, and women, too, in any of 
our cities in the north who would make the 
same plea for untrammelled license. Aside 
from the street life, the old Spanish forts, 
the Governor's palace and Casa Blanca, built 
by Ponce de Leon, are of interest to the tour- 
ist. 

El Morro stands on a promontory over- 
looking the sea and has a most picturesque 
setting. We obtained permission to go 
through the forts and were given a soldier 
who seemed equally unfamiliar with both re- 
treat and English, so we were compelled to 
go the entire rounds, entering dungeons, de- 
scending into moats and mounting towers 
until we were unfit for further duty the rest 
of the day. In several languages, including 
that of signs, we asked him to show 
us out, but he persistently failed to grasp 
our meaning; on the contrary, it seemed in- 
variably to remind him of some remote keep 
or tower he had overlooked and thought we 

[41] 



The American Tropics 



wished to see. We were finally shown out 
and were driven to Fort San Cristobal, but 
we contented ourselves with photographing 
the gate and the policeman on guard; we 
had no desire to be shown through. 

The Governor's Palace is likewise beauti- 
fully situated, overlooking the harbor and 
the sea. At present it is the residence of 
General Magoon. It was carnival time and a 
masked ball at the National Theatre was the 
attraction of the evening, but the Fort had 
made such a lasting impression on us that we 
preferred to stay at home and watch the 
rockets and illumination from the ship. It 
is strange how quickly one develops a home 
feeling for a ship ! 

The next morning, rain, and the wettest 
rain one could imagine; but we had tickets 
for the land excursion and visited a sugar 
factory at Carolina, an old town an hour by 
train from San Juan. The trolley line takes 
one far into the country. This trip with 
a short drive on the far-famed Military Road 
[42] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



which leads across the mountains to Ponce 
completed our work for the day. Of course 
the vegetation is tropical, but left more or 
less in a wild state — ^which is also tropical. 
The soil is black and seems very productive. 
Sugar-cane and bananas are most generally 
cultivated. Coffee and tobacco are also 
grown — in fact the former gives employment 
to twenty per cent, of the inhabitants of the 
island. We saw some large plantations of 
cocoanut trees. The average yield is about 
a hundred to a hundred and twenty nuts per 
tree, which harvest sells for about a dollar. 
The trees begin to bear at the age of seven 
years. We heard of a plantation with 37,- 
000 trees, giving a revenue of $37,000 a year 
— ^we wondered if it were so. 

This was really the first good opportunity 
to shop and many of us bought souvenirs of 
drawn linen, laces and hats. Not that the 
hats were any better than could be procured 
at any other place, but the weather was warm 
and what is lighter than some varieties of 

[43] 



The American Tropics 



Porto Riean straw? Then, those who had 
forgotten to bring along summer clothing or 
had been served with a misfit at St. Thomas 
had an opportunity of trying again at San 
Juan. We liked Porto Rico and were loath 
to leave it; but we hope to return, although 
Americans who had been there a long time 
said we would soon tire of it ; there is so little 
variety and one grows weary even of the 
glorious sunshine. 

A more perfect morning would be difficult 
to imagine than Thursday, the seventh of 
February. I arose betimes and breakfasted 
before the echo of the bugle call had pene- 
trated the various fastnesses of the ship, 
and at half-past eight was seated, field-glass 
and camera in hand, on the hurricane deck, 
when the mud-clogged anchor was drawn up 
on the forecastle deck and we swung grace- 
fully northward and put to sea. El Morro 
stood out proudly in the clear air and never 
flinched as a hundred cameras clicked a part- 
ing shot at its gray walls — ^needless to say 

[44] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



it was taken many times over, whatever hon- 
orable record it may have had in the past. 
All day there was a strong trade wind 
from the south-east which stirred up the 
white-caps; on shipboard no noticeable ef- 
fect was produced, except that the tempera- 
ture was made more agreeable. Our course 
was southeast. We passed St. Croix, dis- 
covered by Columbus on his second voyage in 
1493, to our starboard side about three o 'clock 
in the afternoon, near enough to see the town 
of Christiansted, in which could be made out 
two churches, three or four smoke stacks 
from sugar factories, and, on the hills be- 
yond, what appeared to be water towers. 
Through our glasses the buildings looked 
clean, as if recently built, although this prob- 
ably was an optical delusion. St. Croix or 
Santa Cruz belongs to Denmark. The gen- 
eral outline of the island is hilly. Blue 
Mountain (1,100 feet) near the center is the 
highest peak. It is twenty-three miles long 
and six miles across at its widest part. It 

[45] 



The American Tropics 



lies forty miles south-east of St. Thomas. 
Other islands were passed to our port, or left, 
notably St. Kitts (British), but so far away 
that we were able to discern only the gen- 
eral outlines of smoky mountains. In some 
parts it is said to be very fertile. It contains 
about sixty-eight square miles and has abotit 
30,000 inhabitants. It was discovered by Co- 
lumbus, who named it after his patron saint, 
St. Christopher. 

At about eleven o'clock in the even- 
ing the two upper stars of the Southern Cross 
were visible, and at midnight the whole con- 
stellation stood out plainly above the water 
line. I gazed long and thoughtfully, recall- 
ing the time I had first seen the Cross at Oriz- 
aba in southern Mexico. The North Star and 
the Dipper could be seen in the opposite di- 
rection about four degrees from the horizon. 
We were within seventeen degrees of the 
equator. 

The following morning at dawn we found 
ourselves opposite Dominica (British). Mt. 
[461 




THE ASTRONOMY CLASS. 



A Midwinter Cruise 



Diablotin (Little Devil) was fast asleep, his 
head buried in a pillow of clouds or noxious 
sulphur fumes. A good view could be ob- 
tained of the island's clear-cut, rugged out- 
line, and later the sun lit up the verdant 
slopes and revealed its shaded ravines and 
dark chasms. It is twenty miles long by 
sixteen at its widest part, an J contains about 
two hundred and ninety-one square miles. 
Besides the distinction of having the high- 
est mountain (5,314 ft.) in the whole chain 
of the Lesser Antilles, it also has the 
proud distinction of being the home — 
the last home — of the once powerful race 
of Carib Indians, who disputed inch by inch 
the followers of Columbus in their march of 
extermination. They inhabited the islands 
of the Caribbean Sea as well as the northern 
«coast of the South American continent, 
which was later called the Spanish Main 
(land). 

It may be further said that these natives did 
not appreciate in the highest sense the mis- 
[47] 



The American Tropics 



sionary methods of the sixteenth century, but 
gave an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, 
so to speak, with fair success until the intro- 
duction of measles, which proved to be a 
weapon their susceptible bodies were unable 
to withstand. In exchange tobacco was in- 
troduced into Europe, but apparently with 
less deadly results. The Carib settlement is 
on the windward or Atlantic side of the Is- 
land, but of the millions existing at the time 
of Columbus's discovery only a few hundred 
of this proud race remain of pure Caribbean 
blood. A boiling lake, due to volcanic dis- 
turbances, is situated about two thousand 
feet above sea level and is one of the attrac- 
tions of Sabbath Island. 

At nine o'clock the hazy, bluish-purple of 
Mont Pelee (4,500 ft.) could be made out 
ahead. As we neared the island of Martin- 
ique, a French possession, the sun became so 
hot on the hurricane deck that without the 
strong trade wind it would have been almost 
unbearable. At first the peak of Mont Pelee 
[48] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



was hidden in cloudland, but as we came 
alongside one could see what appeared to be 
steam issuing from various crevices near the 
summit. Then we passed opposite and suf- 
ficiently near to see distinctly the huge gorge 
formed by the rushing waters of the volcanic 
lake, La Soufriere, liberated on the eventful 
morning of May 5th, as a prelude to the more 
eventful morning of May 8th, 1902. No ves- 
tige could be seen of the prosperous sugar 
mill which was situated near the shore in the 
track of this formidable torrent. 

It was a sublime, awe-inspiring spectacle. 
Ahead with our glasses the low walls of St. 
Pierre could be made out. I knew a volcanic 
eruption had devastated the prosperous city, 
but I was unprepared for the total oblivion 
which had been wrought in about three 
minutes of that awful day, when thous- 
ands of people lay scorched or smothering 
beneath the hot ashes. The scene was one of 
complete desolation and only the white forms 
of a few tourists, whose yacht lay anchored 
[49] 



The American Tropics 



near the shore, could be seen crawling like 
ants over the crumbling walls already green 
with a luxuriant vegetation of less than five 
years. On landing in small boats on an ex- 
temporized wharf, we were brought in im- 
mediate contact with and could appreciate 
more vividly, the effect of this cataclysm of 
nature. The city of St. Pierre occupied a 
plain but slightly elevated above the sea, ex- 
tending backward less than a mile, and not 
more than twice this distance along the coast. 
Surrounding are high hills and mountains, 
some of the former green with sugar cane al- 
though not a habitation was in sight. To the 
left, about nine or ten miles away, the cloud- 
capped volcano of Pelee arose in majestic 
grandeur. Little effort has been made at re- 
habitation. A few of the streets have been 
cleared and show the square stone pave- 
ment, gutters and narrow sidewalks. The 
houses stood directly on the street, compact- 
ly built of brick, cobblestones and mortar. 
Near the beach the warehouses stood, and the 

[50] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



square block pavement extends to the wa- 
ter's edge. Here and there are large iron 
rings for the mooring of ships, together with 
posts, made by sinking the breech ends of can- 
non barrels into the earth. The latter serve 
as firmer fastenings for larger craft. Even 
of the larger buildings few retain any fea- 
tures by which they may be recognized. The 
Cathedral, however, presents a facade com- 
prising the arched doorway and a portion of 
the outer walls. The Jardin des Plantes is 
buried under cinders and overgrown with 
rank vegetation. No trees are left, but here 
and there a half -burned trunk tells of the in- 
tense heat which accompanied the downfall 
of ashes, cinders and stones. The story of 
the eruption was told by but few eye-wit- 
nesses, because but few survived. Mont 
Pelee had the habit of acting queerly at 
times, but not for a life-time had any erup- 
tion occurred sufficiently serious to endanger 
the inhabitants of St. Pierre. 

For some weeks the mountain had been 

[51] 



The American Tropics 



wearing his smoke-cap and there had been 
strange tremors of the earth. This increased 
from day to day and the volcano threw out 
steam and huge volumes of dust, but not un- 
til May 5th was there anything to cause 
alarm. On that day there was a tremendous 
explosion, accompanied by the eruption of 
vast quantities of steam, smoke, mud and 
cinders, followed by the on-rushing waters 
of La Soufriere which had been liberated 
and bore everything before them, furrowing 
a huge gorge down the mountain side to the 
sea. Of a hundred and twenty men employ- 
ed at the sugar factory at the time, including 
the owner's son, not one escaped and not a 
vestige of the mill was left. 

This quite naturally aroused the people 
of St. Pierre and a commission of local scient- 
ists was sent to the seat of disturbance, as 
near the summit as they could go. Return- 
ing, they reported that the inhabitants had 
nothing to fear, that the worst was over. 
While there was great perturbation among 



[52] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



dwellers in the whole north end of the island 
and many thought of flight, yet through the 
assurance of some of the less cautious and by 
the publication of notices in the newspaper, 
stating that there was nothing to fear and en- 
couraging them to pursue the even tenor of 
their way, most of the inhabitants of St. 
Pierre remained, together with many who 
had sought refuge in the town. While these 
disturbances continued at intervals, a picnic 
was arranged for the 8th of May to make the 
ascent of the mountain — ^needless to say it 
never occurred. 

At this time there were many boats of var- 
ious kinds at anchor in the roadstead; one 
of these, an Italian steamer, was taking on a 
cargo of sugar. Her Captain, familiar with 
the Vesuvian eruptions, became alarmed by 
the increasing violence of Pelee and asked 
for his clearing papers. These were refused 
by the port officers, who would not permit 
his departure until the cargo had been taken 
aboard. He threatened to sail without them, 

[53] 



The American Tropics 



whereupon two officers were sent to detain 
Mm. It was tlien four o'clock on the after- 
noon of May 7th, and but half a cargo was 
aboard. Finally he informed the officers that 
he would sail before sunset; if they wished 
to go ashore this was their opportunity ; if not 
he would take them along. Seeing his deter- 
mination they went ashore. Far at sea he did 
not hear of the appalling disaster, the great- 
est that has ever befallen the American con- 
tinent, but learned it upon reaching Italy a 
fortnight or more later. 

The next morning, May 8th, 1902, the sun 
was obscured by smoke and volcanic dust; 
a thunder-storm on Pelee with vivid light- 
ning added to the impression of impending 
doom. At eight o'clock there was a tre- 
mendous explosion which shook the earth and 
someone cried out: ''Mont Pelee has blown 
his head into the sky ! ' ' What else was said 
no man knows, for almost with the rapidity 
of sound the blast of heat, dust, cinders and 
molten rocks struck the town, and of its 

[54] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



30,000 people but two were afterwards seen 
alive: an aged woman who happened to be 
in an -undergroiind room or cellar, and who 
died some few weeks later from exposure 
and neglect, and a criminal confined in a 
dungeon, who was liberated by a rescuing 
party and subsequently exhibited himself in 
various American cities. All but two of the 
ships were burned or sunk by the impact. 
The commander of one of the ships that es- 
caped was standing on the bridge when the 
eruption occurred. He saw a cloud of fire 
sweeping from the mountain side and made 
an effort to escape by rushing inside the chart 
house. An instant later, before he had time 
to shut the door and windows, the blast 
struck his ship, careening and nearly swamp- 
ing her with burning cinders. He was almost 
smothered, his hands and face were badly 
burned and many members of the crew who 
were exposed were killed outright. Only 
those in closed rooms escaped the effect of the 
blistering heat. With a few of those who 

[55] 



The American Tropics 



were able to respond to his orders, the ship 's 
cables were slipped and he signalled for full 
steam ahead. Fortunately three or four in 
the engine room were not seriously dis- 
abled and after some delay in freeing the 
steering gear, they succeeded in clearing the 
roadstead and in seven hours reached the 
harbor of Castris on the northern coast of 
St. Lucia, about sixty miles to the south. The 
captain and surviving sailors were found so 
badly burned on arriving at the port that 
they were sent to the hospital, and more than 
one hundred tons of ashes were removed 
from the ship, showing the imminent peril to 
which they had been exposed — only by the 
most prompt and heroic action were they 
saved from destruction. Sad indeed was the 
spectacle — and how changed the gay creole 
city,' once the delight of all who knew her ! 
Not mountain's roar, thought I, nor hail of 
fire henceforth will terrify your lightsome 
heart — ^for dead and buried beneath six feet 



[56] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



of aslies overgrown with green lies St. 
Pierre. 

As the sun went down, fatigued with 
climbing over fallen walls, we struck out on 
a narrow footpath, thinking it led to the 
beach, but finding ourselves threading our 
way through dense vegetation, some appre- 
hension was felt lest the deadly yellow viper, 
the fere de lance, might be encountered. 
Just as our courage was beginning to wane, 
the gentle swash of waves was heard ahead. 
A few steps and our ship stood out huge and 
black, silhouetted against the bright twilight 
of the western sky. 

Steaming along the coast southward the 
lights of Fort de France were soon glimmer- 
ing near the water's edge. The following 
morning, anchored in the open bay, our ship 
was surrounded by the usual flotilla of small 
craft with chattering, dusky occupants. At 
a glance one could see the effect of the more 
intimate mingling of races, Negro, Indian 
and Caucasian, than is seen in the north, or 

[57] 



The American Tropics 



even in the British West Indies. In more 
than ninety per cent., I was told, negro blood 
predominates. Few had even a suggestion of 
clothing, an abandon also not tolerated in 
most communities. While their wants are 
few yet they have a keen thirst for coin 
which they dived for even to considerable 
depth. French is the language of the Is- 
land, though they garble it into a peculiar 
patois, which is not readily comprehended 
by unaccustomed ears. Fort de France, of 
a few thousand inhabitants, is situated on 
low land, which during the rainy season must 
be wet and swampy. 

Few are the attractions offered to de- 
tain the traveler in the capital city of Mar- 
tinique. The statue of Josephine, once Em- 
press of the French, stands in the center of 
a Savane of several acres immediately sur- 
rounded by a half dozen tall palms. It was 
presented to the people of Martinique by her 
grandson. Napoleon III, and is a beautifully 
executed piece of white marble representing 

[58] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



the wife of the great Napoleon in the full 
flush of womanhood attired in a costume of 
the time. She is looking away from the 
town southward across the ridge of hills to 
a spot some five miles away where on the 
23rd of June, 1763, she was born. The su- 
crerie, in which, after the destruction of the 
''Grande Maison" by the hurricane of 1776, 
she lived is still shown and even the house 
in which she was bom is pointed out, al- 
though some doubt as to the verity of the 
association must be entertained. The statue 
seemed to be somewhat out of place and the 
more I saw of the town and its people the 
stronger the impression grew. As a race it 
must have degenerated during the past cen- 
tury and a haK. Creoles there are still and 
some not devoid of physical charm, yet it is 
essentially a negro population with the Af- 
rican rapidly gaining the ascendency. It is 
estimated that fully sixty per cent, of the 
births are illegitimate. 
It was mid-day as we wandered through 
[59] 



The American Tropics 



the narrow streets, past the attractive li- 
brary building, to the post-office, which was 
closed for its noonday siesta, so we were di- 
rected to a green-grocer's opposite to buy 
postage stamps. The Cathedral was open 
but empty, and the only feature of note was 
its hurricane-proof spire made of open iron 
work. The market was alive with people, 
women with huge baskets on their heads, 
gossiping, and men bartering or seeking the 
shade. Donkeys laden and children playing 
in the street completed a picturesque gather- 
ing which, in the eternal sunshine, appeared 
truly Quest Indienne. 



[60] 




STREET AND CATHEDRAL, FORT DE FRANCE. 



CHAPTER III 

ONE hundred and forty miles as the 
pelican flies or as the trade-wind blows 
and yon come to the most thickly pop- 
ulated island in the world, Barbadoes, which 
stands out in the Atlantic farthest to the east- 
ward like a bulwark protecting this great is- 
land chain. Leaving Martinique at nightfall 
we took a southeasterly course and at day- 
break the following morning entered Carlisle 
Bay and dropped anchor less than a mile 
from Bridgetown. The island is less moun- 
tainous than those we had previously seen, 
having only a very few low mountains, more 
hills, and for the most part an undulating 
surface. It comprises an area of one hundred 
and sixty-six miles, most of which is under 
cultivation, and has a population of 200,000, 
or about 1,200 to the square mile. Bridge- 

[61] 



The American Tropics 



town, the capital and chief emporium, has 
about 35,000 people. Barbadoes belongs to 
Great Britain and, were it not for the African 
complexion of the inhabitants, would seem 
more British than does Britain herself. 

On landing one is impressed by the white- 
coated, white-helmeted mounted policemen, 
and the 'igh 'atted cab drivers in a livery 
of dark material ornamented with gilt but- 
tons, just as one sees them in Piccadilly or 
Hyde Park, except that the ensemble shows 
the effect of wear and weather of many sea- 
sons. The landing of three hundred and 
fifty tourists, with the dazzling — almost 
blinding — sunlight and the mercury just be- 
low the boiling point, had a demoralizing 
effect on the dozen or more cab drivers in 
waiting. Prices soared to the limit and re- 
mained there until our departure. We 
found, however, strict order maintained. A 
cabby who could not well bear up under the 
exciting influence of rum and sudden pros- 
perity, was seen between two sturdy cops, 
[62] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



shuffled along, noisy and gesticulating, to 
durance vile. 

Almost every one we saw appeared to be 
doing something. I was told this was com- 
pulsory on account of the poverty of the is- 
land. There was no evidence of a noon-day 
siesta; everybody seemed to be leading a 
strenuous, though simple, life. African as 
over ninety per cent, of the inhabitants are, 
they are longer removed from the influences 
of the jungle than are the blacks of the 
southern states of America. This seemed the 
greatest and almost the only safeguard the 
place possesses, for the representatives of 
the '* mother country" appeared quite unlike 
the courteous and efficient, though at times 
distant, Britons of officialdom as seen in most 
of the capitals of the world. Their lot, if 
they possess the finer qualities common to 
their race, must be most depressing in a coun- 
try of so overwhelmingly African a popu- 
lation. 

Farly Hall, the house of the Governor, 
[63] 



The American Tropics 



presents a pleasing appearance, surrounded 
by dense tropical foliage ever green, with 
here and there a flowering shrub or tree of 
wondrous beauty. In striking contrast to 
this is the Civil Hospital, which, like the cabs, 
seemed reduced to the last extremity of ex- 
istence. Man wants but little here below, 
however, and especially in Barbadoes where 
the necessities of life are easily supplied. A 
congenial climate for the dark-skinned, the 
bread-fruit tree spreading its broad-leaved 
branches and growing fruit over the road- 
way and the cot, thus affording nourishment 
with the least exertion and a grateful shade 
to lie in. The chief industry is the cultiva- 
tion and manufacture of sugar; rum comes 
next in importance. But the former has de- 
clined of late years under the competition 
of beet-root sugar which is now so generally 
grown in northern countries; it is said that, 
as a consequence, the island does not enjoy 
a very high degree of prosperity. As in 
Holland wind-mills are utilized for motive 



[64] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



power, here they are used in grinding sugar- 
cane. 

The Ice House is the popular rendezvous 
for tourists in Bridgetown. It is a combina- 
tion of restaurant, bar and hotel, with its 
main entrance from a grocery or general 
store on the ground floor. Its specialties are 
rum swizzle and flying fish, which might have 
been more keenly relished but for the ex- 
cellent larder and immaculate service of 
* * our boat. ' ' The fish tasted much like Eng- 
lish sole; they were larger than those we 
saw skimming the water's edge. Yams which 
tasted like sweet potatoes were also served. 
It is stated that the manufacture of ice is 
another of the products of this establishment, 
but aside from the '* swizzle '* I neither saw 
nor felt any suggestion of this department. 

Some of Bridgetown's streets are attract- 
ive and the dwellings inviting, but there is 
no evidence of wealth and everything seems 
to have been handed down from our great- 
grandfather's time — almost crumbling with 

[65] 



The American Tropics 



age. One must bear in mind that the island 
was settled by the English (not their best 
specimens in numerous instances) long be- 
fore American cities had passed the log- 
cabin stage. Codrington College, founded 
over two hundred years ago, is to **Bim- 
shire'' what Oxford is to England, and sup- 
plies to the *'Bims" of scholastic bent the 
means of acquiring a fairly liberal education. 
There is at least one thing which might be 
adopted in some communities with profit — the 
abolition of that farce, a jury trial, which so 
often places legal proceedings in America 
in a bad light. Two magistrates determine 
the case here, and I believe with more equity 
than obtains under the jury system. 

As the sun neared the western horizon we 
felt that we had had a full day. From the 
deck we watched the huge fire-ball approach 
the water line, sink below it, then came an 
afterglow of a few minutes and it was 
night — 



[66] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



"The sun's rim dips; the stars rush out: 
At one stride comes the dark." 

It was reported that a young lady of our 
ship had been prostrated by the heat while 
riding in the country, and although the at- 
tack proved to be not serious, it reminded us, 
if such reminder were necessary, that we 
were no longer in the temperate zone. Yes, 
it was hot; but the faithful trade-wind ren- 
dered living in the shade very agreeable. I 
had long since dispensed with superfluous 
clothing and at night my only coverlet was 
the breeze which came from an electric fan. 
Dressing for dinner now became a serious 
problem and only by standing in line with the 
fan could my collar be induced to retain any 
semblance of respectability. 

That night our course was south-west and 
at 11:20 o'clock the Southern Cross stood 
just above the sea mist on our port bow. At 
midnight it was well up and four hours 
after had almost traveled its visible 
arc although it did not set until later. At 

[67] 



The American Tropics 



six 'clock the day was breaking and the dim 
outline of low mountains or hills could be 
seen on both sides of the ship, the coast of 
South America on our starboard bow, and 
to port some small islands near Trinidad. At 
sea, morning is the pleasantest time of day, 
especially in the tropics. I sat on the hurri- 
cane deck enjojdng the cool north-east trade- 
wind after a sweltering night in my cabin; 
no dew was perceptible, all was quiet; the 
moon was in her last quarter and Jupiter, 
the morning star, stood out large and bright 
casting a shimmer on the rippling waves. 
Ahead on our port side was a light that never 
fails to guide the mariner into the Dragon's 
Mouth. A water bird which looked like a 
crane, flying northward to the open sea, was 
the only living thing in sight. A speck on 
the surface of the deep indigo blue ahead 
proved to be the pilot boat, then a golden 
halo appeared beyond the blue headlands in 
the east. It was a quarter after six, the en- 
gines ceased throbbing and the ship came to 

[68] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



a standstill. The pilot, a full-blooded negro 
with a white cap and linen coat, climbed over 
the gunwale, the great heart of the ship 
again began to throb. At half-past six the 
eastern glow had vanished in the broad light 
of day; three minutes later the sun peeped 
above the blue hills of Trinidad and another 
tropical day began. We had entered the 
Dragon's Mouth. The time and place re- 
called the fact that it was also Sunday, Trini- 
ty Sunday, on the 31st of July, 1496, that 
Columbus sighted the island and named it 
in honor of the day, La Trinidad. Skirting 
its shores, endeavoring to find a suitable 
landing, he entered the gulf at its southern 
opening, the Serpent's Mouth (Boca del Si- 
erpe) ; had he approached from the north 
and attempted to enter the Dragon's Mouth 
he might not have succeeded on account of 
the strong currents which render it extreme- 
ly hazardous for sailing craft. 

The Gulf of Paria is of a light, somewhat 
turbid, green color and the air was hot to a 

[69] 



The American Tropics 



superlative degree. Fortunately we reached 
La Brea Point at nine in the morning, thus 
avoiding the extreme heat of mid-day. De- 
serted by my companions and receiving but 
slight encouragement from the guide-books 
or previous "trippers," yet to me the great 
Pitch Lake, discovered by that hardy 
gallant of Queen Elizabeth's Court, Sir Wal- 
ter Raleigh, was one of the chief attractions 
of the trip and of sufficient importance to 
induce me to brave the heat and toil. 
A walk of a mile, or to be exact 4,000 feet, 
up an easy grade lined with morning-glories, 
yellow cassia and white hibiscus, with fields 
of pineapple growing to perfection, brings 
one to Pitch Lake, which Kingsley likened 
to the very fountains of Styx. The walk is 
over a hard roadway, said to have been 
formed by the overflow of the lake, although 
it looked as if it had been made by depositing 
the pitch in the ordinary way, as no evidence 
of anything like an overflow could be made 
out. The lake looks like an ordinary bog or 
[70] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



swamp with pools of water and tufts of wild 
grass, excepting that its surface is hard or 
nearly so, and upon closer inspection the pe- 
culiar formation occasioned by the oozing to 
the surface of the thick, black bituminous 
substance can be seen. It covers an area 
of about a hundred acres and its depth has 
not been fathomed. Already more than a 
million tons have been taken from the lake 
by the present company, yet no impression 
has been made on the supply. The pitch 
oozes imperceptibly and keeps the surface 
nearly level. The workmen engaged in 
picking it out told me that after removing 
it all day the excavations thus formed were 
full the following morning so that one could 
not see that any had been removed. The 
supply comes from a bituminous stratum 
forced upward by the pressure of the super- 
imposed earth and appears to be inexhausti- 
ble. Standing on an islet of pitch surrounded 
by water it looks like numerous cone for- 
mations which on reaching the surface flat- 
mi 



The American Tropics 



ten and spread out like mushrooms. One is 
surprised to see tufts of long wild grass 
growing and even small fish have been seen 
in the water fissures and pools. In conversa- 
tion with a negro I was told wages were six 
cents an hour and board costs from twenty- 
five to thirty-five cents a day. Work was not 
constant, which I thought seemed to his lik- 
ing ; he further said that he came from Mont- 
serrat and had been working at the Pitch 
Lake for six months. All the darkies of the 
West Indies look longingly to the Panama 
Canal Zone, where wages are higher, as their 
Eldorado — *'But how's yo gwine ter git 
dar?" was the puzzling question. 

Returning to the ship on a choppy sea 
stirred up by the brisk wind, I did not fully 
realize the intense heat to which I had been 
exposed until noticing that my clothing, which 
was the thinnest procurable, was saturated 
with perspiration. I had taken the trip leis- 
urely, too, and under a sun umbrella. 

At two o'clock we passed the newest and 

[72] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



largest gun-boat in the British navy, the 
'^Dreadnaught," and in a few minutes were 
at the chief town of the British possessions in 
the West Indies, Port of Spain. On account 
of the shallow water we anchored nearly 
two miles from shore. Even at this distance 
we stirred up considerable mud and tub 
baths were discontinued until we were again 
on the open sea. 

Sunday in Port of Spain is marked by due 
decorum, as becomes a staid English town. 
It is not wholly an exemplary place, how- 
ever, probably on account of its heterogeneous 
make-up. The electric tram cars were run- 
ning, and many, especially those who had 
not visited Pitch Lake in the morning, rode 
about the town or strolled along the shady 
walks of the Botanical Gardens and some at- 
tended church in the evening. In both the 
Anglican and Roman Catholic Cathedrals 
negro choirs furnished the music and natural- 
ly black or coffee-colored skins largely pre- 
dominated in the pews. While the African 

[73] 



The American Tropics 



race comprises a large majority, yet the in- 
habitants seemed more cosmopolitan than 
those of Bridgetown. English, Hindus, South 
Americans, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish 
and a few French were seen. It is said that 
the two latter fraternize but to a limited ex- 
tent with those of other nationalities. The 
East Indians, or coolies, as they are called, 
live by themselves and apparently within 
themselves. It is computed that as many as 
50,000 or more find employment in Trinidad. 
They are more industrious and frugal than 
the African, although not able to perform the 
feats of strength which the negro occasion- 
ally exhibits. The coolies are procured by 
government agents in India and contract to 
remain for five years. I was told they receive 
about a shilling a day, and most of them in 
the course of four or ^Ye years amass a 
competency which enables them to return 
to their native land (at the company *s ex- 
pense) and live in comparative affluence 
thereafter. They are expert gold- and silver- 
[74] 




AVENUE OF PALMS, PORT OF SPAIN. 



A Midwinter Cruise 



smiths and their earnings are put into curi- 
ously wrought ornaments such as bracelets, 
which are worn by the Hindoo women on 
their arms, wrists and ankles. Necklaces, 
ear-rings and nose-rings are also worn, to- 
gether with a button-like stud or rosette 
which is fastened on the side of the nose. In 
short the Hindoo lavishes all his wealth on 
his wife, constituting her his savings bank to 
draw on should occasion arise. 

Some large shops and stores are found in 
Port of Spain. Here began the first serious 
outbreak of the Panama hat fever; sporadic 
cases had been seen at previous ports of call, 
but not until we reached Trinidad did it 
amount to an epidemic. At first immunity 
was conferred by former attacks, but finally 
it mattered little how many Panama hats one 
already possessed, he had a desire to possess 
more, which in some of the more susceptible 
took on a mild form of delirium. Had quar- 
antine been established early and the af- 
fected, or all those already possessing or hav- 

[75] 



The American Tropics 



ing a marked desire to possess a Panama, 
been segregated to the aft cabin and poop 
deck, a general epidemic might have been 
averted. The most conspicuous infections of 
Port of Spain occurred in two Southern gen- 
tlemen who procured two Panamas for one 
hundred dollars. Thenceforth they were the 
pride of the deck. The young woman with 
ravishing eyes and gorgeous cardinal hat and 
belt to match was outshadowed — yes, com- 
pletely outshadowed. 

Better than walking in Trinidad, even in 
midwinter, is riding on an open electric tram. 
The breeze when the car is in motion is de- 
lightful, but when it stands five or ten min- 
utes waiting to pass a car going in the op- 
posite direction as it does at frequent inter- 
vals, the heat stimulates every pore in your 
body into a veritable fountain. Although it 
was carnival time and the cars were well 
filled, the conductors were invariably oblig- 
ing and willing to give information. Nor 
were they the only ones who were courteous. 

[76] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



A young man on hearing me ask to be let 
off at the Governor's Palace volunteered to 
conduct us, saying it was a short walk be- 
yond the terminus of the car-line. I thank- 
ed him, saying I would not put him to such 
inconvenience. ^'But I am going that way,'* 
he replied, with every evidence of good 
breeding^ and as we were desirous of coming 
in contact with the better element in the 
community, we gladly accepted his guidance 
through the Botanical Garden to the Govern- 
or 's Palace. Meeting a coolie juggler he had 
him perform some very clever sleight-of-hand 
tricks which he afterwards explained to us 
for a small consideration. Negroes flock 
around a juggler like flies around a molasses 
barrel and I could not but remark the strik- 
ing mental superiority of the East Indian. 
He exhibited with pride numerous letters of 
commendation from titled people and others 
of high degree at whose houses he had fur- 
nished entertainment. 

Our proffered guide was a native Trini- 

[77] 



The American Tropics 



dadian, twenty-one, dark, with straight black 
hair, and was employed in a physician's of- 
fice. His father came from Venezuela; his 
mother was a native of Trinidad. He hoped 
to obtain one of the three or four scholarships 
given in Port of Spain, which would enable 
him to secure a complete medical course in 
London, including living expenses and fees 
for final examinations. We were more than 
pleased with him and admired his noble am- 
bition. On asking him to accept a gratuity 
as a mark of our appreciation he most gra- 
ciously but modestly declined. 

To one interested in the flora of the tropics 
the Botanical Gardens offer a paradise of 
variety and rank luxuriance. Here grow the 
stately palms, the princes of the vegetable 
kingdom, ever in evidence and of a thousand 
and one species, furnishing to man a store- 
house of utilities such as food, shelter, cloth- 
ing, timber and fuel, tannin, starch, paper, 
sugar, oil, wax and wine; mango trees with 
their dense, glossy foliage and luscious fruit, 

[78] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



growing to a height of thirty to forty feet; 
huge wide-spreading silk-cotton or ceiba trees 
which remind one of live-oaks; noble am- 
hersts (Amherstia nobilis) growing to a 
height of forty to fifty feet, with large bright 
Vermillion flowers spotted with deep yellow; 
the gorgeous *'fire flowers" or poui trees 
(Tabebuia Pentaphylla) with large golden- 
yellow flowers, the most striking of the giants 
of the tropical forests, and Traveller's trees 
with their tall trunks surmounted by a tuft 
of fan-like leaves (Urania speciosa). There 
were also flowering shrubs and climbing 
vines, the most conspicuous of the former be- 
ing the poinsettia with its large deep red 
stellate flowers. Then again there were 
names more familiar from their household 
associations, such as nutmeg trees, which 
look like small hickories, growing to a height 
of about fifteen feet (the nuts likewise look 
like green hickorynuts) ; cinnamon, clove and 
coffee trees, the latter about twenty feet in 
height, with Brazil-nut trees, cannon-ball 
[79] 



The American Tropics 



trees, leopard-wood trees and the never-fail- 
ing bread-fruit tree, its spreading leaves and 
large fruit resembling green grape-fruit. 

Besides the Governor's Palace there are 
some stately residences facing Queen's Park. 
On the opposite side of the Park is the hotel. 
Queen's Park, or the "Savanna," contains 
about two hundred acres. It is set off by a 
few fine banyan, saman and giant ceiba trees, 
together with bamboo clumps and green- 
sward or wild grass. It is utilized for 
cricket, golf, horse racing and other forms 
of recreation. On the day of my visit a fine 
herd of Jerseys was grazing here. This re- 
minds me that our northern breeds of cattle 
do not long thrive in the tropics. A peculiar 
species with a camel-like hump on the with- 
ers is used for inbreeding. 

Numerous drives over well-kept roads may 
be taken, the one leading to the reservoir be- 
ing the most beautiful. 

Although the last three days before Lent 
began on Sunday, it was not until the fol- 
[80] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



lowing day that King Carnival was given full 
sway and held in his hand the keys of the 
municipality. Bands of masked merry- 
makers in various fantastic garbs marched 
the streets preceded by music — or what was 
intended for music. At noon the shops closed 
and bedlam was let loose. A troop of negro 
minstrels might be seen marching rapidly 
with gaudy costumes, their long swallow-tail 
coats fluttering in their wake. Banjos, gui- 
tars and tambourines were most in evidence, 
with various extemporized instruments, rat- 
tle boxes and horns. An Indian chief came 
boldly up Frederick Street with scarlet 
paint and feathers, brandishing a tomahawk 
and bow and arrows, followed by a motley 
array of nondescripts. Dancing maidens in 
gay attire with white masks, came at fre- 
quent intervals, monsters and men in tar and 
feathers, harlequins, all day and half the 
night until one longed for quiet — and found 
it only on board ship. I was told the better 
class of inhabitants regretted that custom 

[811 



The American Tropics 



allows the rabble to monopolize the first day, 
after which some of the more refined and gor- 
geous turnouts may be seen. 

On a tram-car, through narrow, dusty, 
crowded streets, I rode through the coolie 
village, with the sun temperature 150 de- 
grees Fahrenheit, and alighted at the en- 
trance of the Lazar House — the Leper Asy- 
lum of Trinidad. Entering an arched gate- 
way where a negro porter in blue uniform re- 
ceived my card and rang a bell notifying the 
Sister Superior of my approach, I then came 
to a park of about six acres ; on the opposite 
side stands a second arched gateway leading 
to a courtyard of about an acre, shaded by 
flowering trees and shrubs with a large pump 
in the center and walled in by different 
wards of the hospital. Here a second porter 
conducted me to the reception room opposite 
the entrance where I registered my name and 
was met by the Sister Superior. 

Segregation of lepers is not compulsory 
in Trinidad, provided the affected do not 
[82] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



conspicuously endanger the lives of others 
either on account of occupation or environ- 
ment. The Asylum is supported by the gov- 
ernment and is presided over by a religious 
order or sisterhood, most of whose members 
are French; it has two small churches, an 
English and a Roman Catholic, one on each 
side of the administration building. The 
estate surrounding the hospital furnishes em- 
ployment to those able to perform light 
manual labor and is a pleasant diversion in 
the blank existence of its two hundred and 
sixty inmates. Neither high stone walls nor 
the porter at the lodge entrance, however, 
was able to keep out King Carnival, although 
his presence was doubtless connived at by 
the management. A procession of girls and 
women with masks and tambourines started 
to cross the court, headed and flanked by 
some of the nurses, but they all beat a pre- 
cipitous retreat on seeing that my camera 
was being adjusted. As we passed through 
the park in front of the hospital there was a 



[83] 



The American Tropics 



row of half-a-dozen musicians from the male 
ward seated on a bench; on the green close 
by under the shade of a huge ceiba tree a 
bevy of girls were taking their places for a 
dance, but as our presence seemed to retard 
their innocent revelry, we departed just as 
the church bell was tolling the death-knell 
of one of their number. One remembers 
more easily in a leper hospital than else- 
where that it is appointed unto all men once 
to die. 



[84] 



CHAPTER W 

AT daybreak on the twelfth of February 
we weighed anchor, and before any 
one knew it the ship had cleared the 
Dragon's Mouth; at breakfast we were 
steaming westward with the trade wind on 
the indigo blue of the Caribbean Sea. The 
white-caps rolled like the white horses of 
Neptune, leaping and tossing their manes in 
the distance, but the steamer pursued the 
even tenor of her way and everybody wel- 
comed a day of rest. There were few early 
risers, the fatigue of sight-seeing and the 
intense heat restraining even the largest 
purchasers of silver bracelets and other 
finery from comparing specimens and prices 
of their collections. We had an exciting 
race with a school of, apparently, porpoises, 
but I was told they were a species of perch 
called barracoudas; whether shark, porpoise 
or barracouda, they were very numerous and 
certainly were rapid swimmers, and leaped 

[85] 



The American Tropics 



above the surface in the most frolicsome way. 
At ten o'clock we passed the island of Mar- 
garita, once famous for its pearl fisheries 
which were a source of considerable wealth 
during the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
turies. 

The only serious consideration of the day 
was the momentous subject of clothes — and 
that in a climate where clothes are little 
needed and by many of the natives little 
worn. How would it be in the mountains 
of Venezuela, was asked; would the ninety 
or more tunnels, the ride in windowless 
steam cars with dust and smoke, incapacitate 
a suit for all future use? Then again, what 
if we were invited to meet the President of 
the United States of Venezuela? These and 
other questions came up for adjudication. 
No one could think of carrying more than 
was absolutely necessary, but what was 
necessary was a pons asinorum to the wisest. 

The following morning I was called be- 
fore daylight, five o'clock; breakfast was to 

[86] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



be served at six and at seven we were to 
set foot on South American soil. The trip 
was certainly strenuous and we began to 
look forward to the time when we could go 
home and rest. But who would miss the 
glories of a tropical night just before dawn ? 
The Southern Cross was at its best, dipping 
to the west, its lowermost star, which is of 
the first magnitude, was over our port bow 
about a hand's breadth above the horizon. 
To the north on our starboard quarter the 
Pole Star was about the same distance above 
the water-line, with the Dipper just above 
the horizon. All were remarkably brilliant. 
Then there appeared indistinctly a row 
of lights ahead, at first peeping then flicker- 
ing on the water-line ; it was La Guayra. 

The Venezuelan coast at this point is pre- 
cipitous and the country mountainous, green 
vegetation alternating with red clay, with a 
narrow beach on which the town is situated. 
Most of the houses are of rubble stone and 
mortar, white, pink and blue, one or two 
[87] 



The American Tropics 



stories high, with red-tiled or corrugated 
iron roofs and strong, iron-barred windows, 
while the unpaved streets are narrow and 
winding. The people are dark and small; 
they seem to have a restless, discontented 
look and are much given to jewelry and 
cigarettes. 

Few negroes were seen, but you must re- 
member it was only a quarter past seven in 
the morning. From our deck the diminu- 
tive locomotive and train of cars switching 
and backing, restless though apparently ac- 
complishing nothing, looked more like toys 
in a play-room than the equipment that was 
to carry us over the mountains 3,099 feet 
above us and, after two hours of winding and 
crossing deep chasms, land us at the capital 
snugly ensconced in the beautiful valley of 
Caracas less than ten miles away. The rail- 
way is a narrow guage and about twenty- 
three miles long, built and operated by an 
English company. Each coach seats twenty- 
three passengers. 

[881 



A Midwinter Cruise 



After leaving La Guayra the train skirts 
a valley through dense foliage of banana 
and other tropical growth, soon rounding 
a headland far above where a panorama 
of the town and sea is obtained. This is re- 
peated at a still higher level and finally the 
line strikes the side of a deep valley which 
it follows most of the way. The scenery is 
grand and variegated, and, considering the 
difficulties to be overcome, the ride is not un- 
comfortable. The mountains are an eastern 
spur of the Great Andes range. The best 
views are to the right. This is not a country 
for automobiles, nor wagons for that matter ; 
pack trains take the place of vehicles, and 
burros with heavy loads on their backs, 
threading their way over stony mountain 
trails, with horsemen at intervals, make a 
picture such as we used to see in the geog- 
raphies of our boyhood days. Here and 
there a man with a machete stops to gaze as 
the train sweeps by. Finally the panting en- 
gine regains its breath, which tells us that 
[89] 



The American Tropics 



we have passed the highest point; soon we 
near the terminus, adobe houses appear in in- 
creasing number and thus an insidious en- 
trance to Caracas is made. 

The capital rests in a large basin or val- 
ley, twelve miles long and about three miles 
at its widest part, surrounded on ail 
sides by hills and mountains. It has more 
than 100,000 inhabitants, most of whom call 
themselves whites, but only about one per 
cent, can show an untarnished escutcheon of 
white blood. There is a plentiful supply of 
negroes who were originally imported into 
the country as slaves, while the mass of the 
population is a mixture of Indian, negro and 
Spaniard. Caracas was founded in 1567, its 
population in 1810 was estimated at 50,000, 
but it made little progress during the nine- 
teenth century on account of the devastating 
influences of war, earthquakes and pesti- 
lence. The most severe seismic disturbance 
occurred in 1812, with great loss of life and 
property. Some years afterward the city 

[90] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



was decimated by cholera, while war, sup- 
posed to have been terminated when Spain 
aclmowledged the independence of Venezuela 
in 1845, has proven endemic. From a super- 
ficial view it appears that the people are 
scarcely equal to self-government in its true 
sense, and the mailed hand of authority is 
needed to insure stability. 

Apparently the country's moneyed men are 
not those whose ancestors have bequeathed 
them a competence, nor are merchant princes, 
if such exist, much in evidence, nor their 
captains of industry. Political power seems 
to be the golden road which leads to afflu- 
ence and distinction. Those with whom the 
tourist comes most in contact — cab drivers, 
porters, waiters, shop-keepers — conceal most 
effectively any tendency to cordiality they 
may entertain, while of the better element 
we saw but little. In the few opportunities 
we had of observing them, they seemed to 
possess marked distinction, the women par- 
ticularly impressing me with a grace and 

[91] 



The American Tropics 



quiet elegance of manner that speaks the 
refining influences of many generations, con- 
trasting most favorably with ^'our own" so- 
called smart set. On the other hand, those 
who are supposed to represent the great ma- 
jority and hold the reins of government 
bear evidence of having had riches suddenly 
thrust upon them — or at least placed within 
their reach. The only class seemingly eon- 
tent and in full accord with its environment 
is the priesthood, living today as it did yes- 
terday, well fed, well clad and well housed, 
its position and emoluments apparently se- 
cure. 

It is from the outlying hill-tops that the 
city is most attractive, and its main points of 
interest stand out in grateful contrast to the 
monotonous mass of two-story, light yellow, 
tile-topped buildings, with rough cobble- 
paved streets running at right angles. One 
or two street car lines with small, dilapidated 
mule-cars cross the city. The contrast be- 
tween the government buildings and plazas 

[92] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



constructed and maintained at the public ex- 
pense, and those occupied by private indi- 
viduals is greater than is usually seen even 
in autocratic countries. Of the former the 
most noteworthy is the Capitol, built in the 
form of a square on the site of a con- 
vent of the Carmelite friars and cover- 
ing an area of more than two acres. It con- 
tains the House of Assembly where the Na- 
tional Congress meets, together with the Uni- 
versity, National Library and Municipal 
Palace. Close by is the Municipal Theatre, 
which receives a subsidy from the govern- 
ment, and the Masonic Temple, said to be 
one of the finest in South America. Caracas 
also has a Pantheon where lie the remains 
of her illustrious dead. These buildings are 
either constructed of or painted to resemble 
light-colored stone, varying in design ac- 
cording to their several uses as well as the 
time of their erection, and, while not wholly 
devoid of architectural beauty, owe their 
chief grandeur to their dust-colored, dust- 

[93] 



The American Tropics 



covered commonplace environment. Most of 
the public buildings and many other improve- 
ments were consummated during the dicta- 
torship of Guzman Blanco, 1870 to 1882, who 
hypothecated the national revenue by these 
large expenditures and subsidies. It is said 
that Blanco while thus beautifying the city 
was not wholly unmindful of his own inter- 
ests — but the tongue of slander speaks all 
languages with fluency. The Cathedral, said 
to have been built about 1614, with its cam- 
panile and mellow-toned bells, faces the Pla- 
za Mayor, and while not especially imposing, 
is yet in full accord with the place and bears 
some evidence of antiquity and the struggles 
it has withstood. These buildings either 
face or adjoin the main square, called Plaza 
Bolivar or Plaza Mayor, which contains an 
equestrian statue of Bolivar, the first libera- 
tor of Venezuela as well as of Columbia, Peru 
and Bolivia. Since his time (he died in 
1830) numerous liberators have arisen, but 
as their claims to this distinction consist in 



[94] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



liberating their coimtry from their predeces- 
sors in office, they are not liable to be long 
remembered by posterity. 

It must be remembered that Venezuela was 
the only part of the American continent that 
Colnmbns ever saw. Most appropriate, 
therefore, is the statue of the great explorer 
on an eminence overlooking the city from 
the west. 

There seems to be no desire on the part of 
the chief executive of the United States of 
Venezuela to live in La Casa Amarilla, or 
The Yellow House, which is the official resi- 
dence of the president. The present presi- 
dent's predecessor, Jacinta de Crespo, erected 
a spacious palace, Miraflores, on an elevation 
overlooking the valley and the town. As it 
was unoccupied, some of our party paid an 
additional tariff and were given rooms in 
this beautiful structure. Large, stately and 
impracticable though it appeared, with its 
carved marble sinks and mosaic-floored kitch- 
en, in Miraflores one would scarcely look for 

[95] 



The American Tropics 

the home of a true and honest liberator. While 
Bolivar devoted his life and his considerable 
fortune to the service of his country his suc- 
cessors have surrounded themselves with a 
lavish display, and if rumor be true, consid- 
erable wealth, which does not consort well 
with the impoverished public exchequer or 
the obvious poverty of the people. Crespo 
may have been an exception, as many be- 
lieve. 

Sleeping in a real palace, in a picturesque 
country, even if conveniences were inade- 
quate or defective, had a peculiar charm. 
Not that it was especially inviting, or even 
comfortable, to sleep on the thinnest of ticks 
and under the thinnest of coverings. The 
weather, which had been fine and warm in 
the morning, became cool and wet in the 
afternoon and during the night the tempera- 
ture fell to 54 degrees Fahrenheit. I called 
for an additional coverlet and found on re- 
tiring an extra blue drilling sheet which 
was not sufficiently warm for comfort. The 

[96] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



sudden fall in the temperature was not de- 
void of danger as I contracted a severe cory- 
za. But I had the satisfaction of knowing 
that the cold was as unusual as was, to me, 
sleeping in a South American palace. One 
chamber is particularly worthy of mention, 
the earthquake room, constructed with iron 
beams to prevent the masonry from falling. 
Breakfasting in Miraflores, too, had its draw- 
backs — especially when one breakfasts at 
six o 'clock in the morning — ^because in a land 
of manana almost everything you want has 
not arrived. After my experience at the 
Gran Hotel Klint the previous day, I took 
the precaution to order before retiring and 
looked forward to a simple though palatable 
breakfast of fresh eggs and caffe con leche 
as I remembered it served in Mexico ; but at 
the critical moment the Venezuelan hens 
and the Venezuelan cows or the Venezuelan 
muchacho failed, and we broke fast on 
bread and bananas with coffee that tasted 
like an infusion of tobacco. 

[97] 



The American Tropics 



We visited President Cipriano Castro's ac- 
tual residence, the ''Villa Zoila" on the at- 
tractive Avenida del Pariso (Paradise Ave- 
nue) in the outskirts of the town. The 
President and his family were away so we 
had an opportunity of going through the 
place at leisure. Constructed of wood and 
much stained glass, it was less massive than 
other buildings we had seen. The furnish- 
ings and objects of art gave me the impres- 
sion of having been collected hurriedly rather 
than accumulated — as if the General had 
commanded one of his henchmen to gather 
so many wagon-loads of household goods; 
the result may be imagined. 

The Republic of Venezuela has copied 
largely from her elder sister, the United 
States of North America. In fact much of 
the enthusiasm of Bolivar may have been 
fired by his visit to North America before his 
military career began. The Plaza Washing- 
ton, ornamented like the Plaza Bolivar with 
mosaic walks and numerous plants and trees, 

[98] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



has in its center a statue of George Washing- 
ton. 

Our party, being mainly from the United 
States, was given a concert by the Military 
Band on the Plaza Bolivar the evening after 
our arrival. Whether it was because I was 
far from home, or because the band was un- 
usually good I cannot say, but never did 
music sound sweeter or more soul-stirring. 
There was a vivida vis animi to it that made 
a strong impression on us. The concert fur- 
nished an opportunity of further studying 
the people of Caracas and it was quite ap- 
parent that we likewise were objects of curi- 
osity. Aside from impressions already men- 
tioned, I was particularly struck with the 
number of boys between the ages of twelve 
and fourteen seen promenading, cane in 
hand, ogling the women or stopping frequent- 
ly to stare more deliberately at the rows of 
seats occupied by native ladies and gentle- 
men. It reminded me of the old roues at 



[99] 



The American Tropics 



the Grand Opera House in Paris, very out of 
keeping with the callow period of youth. 

As to the hotels (and I mention them with 
regret) there are the Gran Hotel, the Gran 
Hotel Klint, and the Gran Hotel de Vene- 
zuela, each in some respects worse than the 
other. But the statement that 

"Who'er has traveird life's dull round, 
Where'er his stages may have been, 
May sigh to think he still has found 
The warmest welcome at an inn!" 

is abundant evidence that Shenstone never 
was entertained at an "inn" in Venezuela. 
Even Johnson, the great patron of inns, 
must have palled had he visited Caracas. 

The shopping tendency was not generally 
gratified in the South American Republic. 
Naturally a few Panama hats and some old 
pieces of jewelry were picked up, but so few 
tourists invade this mountain stronghold of 
discomfort that the merchant was scarcely 
alive to the lucrative possibilities of tourist 
traffic. Fakirs 'were there in abundance, as 

[100] 



The American Tropics 



mountains, and neighboring peaks, penetrat- 
ing, and visible above, a stratum of cloud, 
looked like islands on an undulating sea of 
mist. The clear tones from the Campanile 
below announced the hour of seven and in 
thirty-four minutes the ** special" was 
threading its way to the sea. 

From the impressions obtained in a short 
visit one is not surprised that the main utili- 
ties of the Republic are controlled by for- 
eigners. The great Venezuelan Railway, 
connecting Caracas with Valencia, a distance 
of about ninety miles, is owned by Germans. 
The difficulties of railway construction in 
Venezuela may be realized when one consid- 
ers that it took six years of assiduous labor 
to complete the road. There are eighty-six 
tunnels and two hundred and twelve bridges. 
From what had been said about the "long 
trip" I undertook it with some misgivings, 
but was agreeably surprised to find modern 
day coaches with glass windows and comfort- 
able, cane-upholstered seats. 

[102] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



After leaving Caracas the train soon 
plunged into a long tunnel, the first of the 
eighty-six; it seemed interminable and was 
almost stifling with smoke. I began to com- 
prehend why the courage of so many had 
failed and felt that the prediction that we 
would finally emerge in the guise of chim- 
ney sweeps would in all probability be real- 
ized. We passed along the banks of the 
Guaire through cultivated fields of maize, 
which was about two feet hi^h, sugar-cane, 
bananas and what looked like cabbage, 
onions and other garden products, all in a 
high state of cultivation. Artistic cottages 
were passed, barn-yards with fowls, black 
razor-back's and donkeys. In the picturesque 
white villages churches soft in color are al- 
ways the most prominent buildings and ap- 
parently the foci around which the towns 
have grown. At Las Adjuntas the line 
leaves the river and soon enters the tortu- 
ous valley of San Petro with its extensive 
coffee plantations. Looking ahead as we 
[103] 



The American Tropics 



rounded a sharp curve Los Teques was seen 
far above, and after numerous windings the 
train began to climb upward until finally 
the straggling outposts of the town were 
passed and at half -past eight o'clock the sta- 
tion was reached. From this point the road 
makes a gradual descent and some of the 
wildest mountain scenery of the trip was en- 
countered. 

On leaving Caracas the best views were to 
the right ; now the grand panorama of moun- 
tains and deep ravines was seen to the left. 
The striking contrast between bright sun- 
shine and deep shadow, with numerous varia- 
tions in light and tint, created an effect never 
to be forgotten. A panorama of nature in all 
her sublimity, vast and silent, inhabited only 
by the condor and the omnipresent buzzard, 
denizen of towns and mountain wastes, the 
black-winged scavenger of the tropics. Al- 
though we had passed eighty-four tunnels 
so short were they (the first excepted) that 
they were scarcely noticed. No dust had 

[104] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



thus far been encountered, but as we gradu- 
ally reached a lower altitude the heat which 
during the morning had not been uncom- 
fortable began to assert itself. First I dis- 
carded a thin "sweater/' then a waistcoat, 
but not until Victoria was reached at noon 
did an opportunity present itself to remove 
an extra stratum of under flannels. Even 
here the opportunity did not present itself, 
nor was it presented ; I created it in the soli- 
tude of an adjoining jungle. The extra 
clothing would have been worn, however, and 
no extemporized boudoir utilized, had I been 
aware, as I afterwards was, that the proprie- 
tor of the station restaurant, while wander- 
ing in this woodland the week before, had 
been fatally bitten by a poisonous serpent. 
As we descended to the lower levels the 
earth again became red and we were in the 
midst of the dense tropical vegetation of the 
torrid zone. Coffee plantations, sugar-cane 
and bananas seemed to be the chief products. 
Most attractive of all was a luxuriant vine, 
[105] 



The American Tropics 



the norantea or combretum, wMch climbs 
with its large blossoms of red and gold cover- 
ing huge trees of the forest with a mantle of 
bloom, gorgeous beyond description. 

At Victoria we remained an hour and a 
half for luncheon. It proved to be a veri- 
table tourist picnic, seated at long tables un- 
der the shade of mahogany, banyan and 
''fire-flower" trees, with other varieties less 
familiar. The natives were not permitted to 
enter the station enclosure, so they crowded 
against the fence and seemed to enjoy the 
spectacle as much as we did. They were 
mostly negroes and doubtless were of the 
idle element, such as may be seen at any 
American railway station. 

Aside from the luxuriant foliage the place 
gloried in a street car line, very like others 
we had seen in Venezuela. From this 
point we again traversed extensive mahogany 
forests, passed cattle ranches and cozy sta- 
tions covered with gorgeous mantles of bou- 
gainvilla, a purplish-pink flowering shrub 

[106] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



that runs riot over buildings and fences, pre- 
senting a solid mass of bloom. The next 
town of importance is Cagua, of 5,000 in- 
habitants, whose principal industry is the 
raising of poultry and pigs. During the last 
three hours of the trip it was hot and dusty, 
and about three o'clock the beautiful waters 
of Lake Valentia appeared to our left. The 
lake is 1,362 feet above the sea level and 
covers an area of 273 square miles. After 
skirting its shores for a few miles, the city 
of Valentia (next to Caracas in size, having 
about 36,000 inhabitants) is reached. It has 
more of a metropolitan air than the towns 
we had passed and seemed to be enjoying 
more prosperity than is normal in Venezuela. 
There was a large delegation at the station to 
see us; evidently a train load of American 
tourists was not an everyday occurrence. 
Here again there was a marked contrast be- 
tween those of high and low degree, those of 
fair skins and those of the dark or mixed 
types. One of the former especially at- 

[107] 



The American Tropics 



traded attention, not only on account of her 
neat and well-fitting gown of pure white, 
but also of her hair of a bright Titian tint, 
lending a pleasing contrast to her black- 
haired and dusky neighbors. As this bevy of 
attractive women came in range a dozen cam- 
eras clicked; at first they recoiled and a 
young gallant with a dash of negro blood in 
his veins attempted to shield them from the 
stares of so many lenses, but their good 
nature prevailed, and the friendly interven- 
tion of one in their own station in life soon 
made them not unwilling subjects. 

We were now in the torrid zone and felt its 
glowing heat ; strange fruits and flowers were 
on sale, with an abundance of oranges, ba- 
nanas and pineapples. We had also reached 
the terminus of the German railway, but our 
train was transferred to the English line ex- 
tending from Valencia to Puerta Cabella, a 
distance of thirty-four miles. During the 
first few miles the grade is quite precipitous 
— eight per cent, where the Abt Cogwheel 

[108] 



^ 


■ 


^^M 


'U 


^ 


?:j^^BB^^9^B^^^^^^^^^^HI 




ll 


^K^^^H^HI 




' ' i 


EJi^H 




i 


^1 



A Midwinter Cruise 



System is used. Tlie scenery was quite un- 
like the lofty windings over the Andes; our 
route now followed deep gorges, along foam- 
ing cataracts dashing onward to the sea, 
and hills which seemed high only because 
they were near. Dense forests were trav- 
ersed, winding road-ways with long trains 
of pack mules were seen, and picturesque 
straw-thatched cottages and primitive inns 
where the dashing caballeros are wont to 
quench their thirst and where the weary 
traveller might find a night's repose. While 
nature is lavish in her gifts, yet withal it 
seems a hard, cruel world to live in. More 
fortunate, thought I, is the man who views it 
from an open window as he glides along on 
the iron rails. 

At El Palito the sea level is reached and 
for nine miles we followed the shore in an 
easterly direction through jungle set off with 
pale green or fawn colored cacti twenty or 
more feet in height. Finally the unpaved, 
unkempt streets and small court-yards of the 

[109] 



The American Tropics 



seaport town of Puerto Cabella (port of the 
hair, because a ship may be moored with a 
cable of a single hair) was reached at six 
o'clock in the evening. Few of my days 
have been so full of interest, nor have I ever 
been offered a comparable continued spec- 
tacle of the pleasing, the wonderful and the 
awe-inspiring — a page in nature's physical 
geography of the world. So intense, so un- 
consciously strenuous had been the day that 
until I was seated in the boat waiting to be 
towed to our floating house did I realize a 
sense of listless fatigue. After dinner a ball 
was given on board to the townspeople, but 
comfortable in my cabin, lulled by the soft 
hum of the electric fan and the distant 
strains of the ship's band. South America 
became what it still seems — a dream. 



[110] 



CHAPTER V 

THE Dutch possessions in the Caribbean 
Sea must be a source of annoyance to 
the frugal burghers of Holland. Cura- 
coa, their largest island and the seat of the 
Dutch West Indian Government, has an area 
of two hundred and twelve square miles and 
comprises more than half of their West In- 
dian possessions, which aggregate a popula- 
tion of only about fifty thousand and pre- 
sent a yearly deficit of about sixty thousand 
gulders. 

It was seven o'clock on the morning of 
the fifteenth of February that land was 
sighted off our starboard bow. Before our ar- 
rival — in 1527, in fact — it had been noticed 
by the Spaniards, and in 1634 by the Dutch, 
who, finding no one at home on landing, 
took possession. Several nations played 
shuffle-board with the island until early in 
the nineteenth century when it was restored 
to the peaceful possession of Holland. We 
[111] 



The American Tropics 



had no serious intention of pre-empting the 
island, besides, on coming nearer, evidence 
of habitation became apparent, and in the 
distance whitish dots and spires proved to be 
the town of Willemstad with its snug har- 
bor expanding into a land-locked bay 
around which the town is built. We did 
not land but passed near enough to obtain a 
good view of the quaint town with its light- 
colored buildings in which pale yellows 
and blues predominate, with a sprinkling of 
red tiled roofs. 

Curacoa is mainly noted for a liqueur of the 
same name, in which a wild orange, native 
here, is one of the flavoring ingredients. 
While enjoying your after-dinner glass of 
Curacoa, however, you may as well know 
that little if any of the liqueur is made here. 
The principal export is salt. 

At noon another island, Oruba, smaller 

than Curacoa was passed, and later in the 

day the smoke-like headlands of the Coajira 

Peninsula of South America could be seen 

[112] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



on our left. Little else of note appeared. 

Going with the trade wind in a south- 
westerly direction, the day was hot, the hot- 
test we had had. The thermometer in the 
ship's doctor's room stood 86 degrees Fah- 
renheit, with great humidity. One almost 
envied the flying fish glistening above the 
dark azure of the surface. 

The second day was also hot and muggy, 
but the sky was overcast, a most grateful 
change from the glare of perpetual sunshine. 
It takes several generations for the light- 
skinned to become thoroughly acclimated to 
daily sunlight unmodified by clouds, and 
even then there is a compromise, in which 
the dark pigment appears in the skin to shut 
out some of the light. This, being nature's 
method, is doubtless the best, for until the 
dark tint appears the individual suffers more 
or less from too much light. 

Towards morning of the third day, a light- 
house to port showed our near approach to 
land — the Isthmus of Panama. Finally the 

[113] 



The American Tropics 



lights of Colon could be made out ahead 
and at daybreak the translucent ultramarine 
sea became a yellowish-green and finally tur- 
bid. At seven o'clock we dropped anchor, 
completing our seven hundred and seventy- 
eight-mile run from Puerto Cabella. 

After a rest of two days and nights, the 
prospect of visiting one of the great battle- 
fields in which the mental and physical 
strength of man is contending with the in- 
finite forces of nature aroused even the most 
apathetic. For twenty-six years the warfare 
has been waged, with the loss of countless 
human lives and millions of treasure, but 
still the conflict goes on. I had an indefinite 
notion of the operations, scarcely amounting 
to an opinion, formed from conflicting re- 
ports of newspapers and magazines. 

The day began with showers, some of 
which amounted to heavy rainfalls lasting 
half an hour or less, alternating with fitful 
sunshine, as if this warfare had extended to 
the very elements, or allegorically, was a 
[114] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



strife in wMcli Despair and Hope contended. 
On account of its location, Colon is one of 
tlie wettest places on earth, having a yearly 
rainfall of one hundred and forty inches. 
This was one of the dry months, the rainy 
season extending from May to December. 

It does not take long to gain a fair con- 
ception of at least one of the great problems 
that confronts the constructors of the Isth- 
mian Canal : that of maintaining human life 
and health — a problem of sanitary science. 
Elevated but a few feet above the sea level on 
a small island of black muck; covered with 
an impenetrable jungle of rank vegetation; 
close to the mainland, which is of the same 
general character for several miles, with 
stagnant pools and sluggish streams — such 
is the site and environment of Colon. But 
Colon, or Aspinwall as it was formerly 
called, in spite of its unfavorable location, 
has felt the quickening hand of genius and 
is being raised above the sink-hole in which 
it has lain since its foundation in 1849, and 

[115] 



The American Tropics 



bids fair to be no longer a hotbed of pesti- 
lence. I was particularly impressed with 
the extensive sewage system and arrange- 
ment for the conveyance of pure water — al- 
most equalling in magnitude the construc- 
tion of a pipe line by the Standard Oil Com- 
pany for conveying its products from the 
Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. The construc- 
tion of buildings has likewise been changed. 
In place of the low-lying, half -rotten wooden 
dwellings, houses are elevated on piles to 
afford free ventilation, which with the sys- 
tem of drainage and clearing now going on, 
must soon render the Atlantic terminus of 
the Canal more habitable for the Caucasian 
race. I even saw a large hotel-like struc- 
ture, three stories high, built of brick, near- 
ing completion. 

Colon has ntany of the elements of a fron- 
tier town, and a very heterogeneous popula- 
tion, in which the Spaniard, more or less 
removed, predominates. The buildings are 
constructed mainly of wood and sheet iron, 

[116] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



streets are impaved, and the mud, like many 
of the natives, is black. It is in no sense 
attractive and one does not have a desire to 
tarry long, however promising the future 
may be. With the completion of the great 
inter-oceanic waterway it may be found ex- 
pedient to change the location of its Carib- 
bean terminus. 

To one who has given the topography of 
the Isthmus little attention the exact loca- 
tion of the Canal Zone and its Atlantic or 
Caribbean and Pacific termini is confusing. 
We naturally think of the Isthmus between 
North and South America as running north 
and south, but if a map be consulted it will 
be seen to form an arch extending from 
west to east with the proposed waterway 
between Colon and Panama running in a 
south-easterly direction. Panama conse- 
quently, although on the Pacific Ocean, is 
about forty miles east of Colon. The wes- 
tern terminus is in reality the eastern (Pan- 
ama) and the eastern is the western (Colon). 



[117] 



The American Tropics 



American influences other than sanitation 
were also discernable, and one felt a home 
feeling on the special train that was to bear 
us over the Canal route to the Pacific Ocean. 
The island of Manzanillo upon which Colon 
is situated seemed so little like an island 
that it was diffcult to realize that the narrow 
lagoon separated us from the mainland, as 
other lagoons and morasses seemed equally 
important. The railway soon enters more 
attractive scenery, however, with hills to the 
left on which are located many of the maga- 
zines for storing material and a considerable 
number of dwellings. The land forming the 
roadbed is low and comparatively level for 
twenty miles or more, after which a more 
rolling or hilly surface interspersed with a 
few morasses is encountered. 

With the change of landscape, one is forci- 
bly reminded of the deadly pestilence that 
held undisputed sway until the investigations 
of those medical heroes, Ross, Reed, Carroll 
and Lazear, revealed the cause and pointed 

[118] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



out the way of preventing epidemics of yel- 
low fever and the omnipresent if less deadly 
malarial poison. Scarcely had the train cleared 
the unsavory settlement of Cristobal, a suburb 
of Colon, before a cemetery was passed near 
Monkey Hill to the left. Several other 
graveyards were seen as we proceeded, 
thickly dotted with wooden ''gravestones'' 
which spoke more forcibly than could words 
of the veritable death trap Panama has been 
to the Caucasian race and particularly to 
the unacclimated. Abandoned machinery, 
dredges, locomotives by the score, stood rust- 
ing, covered by an ivy-like growth, a sad 
comment on the mismanagement and cupid- 
ity of man. The farther we went the more 
the place seemed like a junkman's paradise. 
After leaving Colon the sky cleared and 
on gaining higher ground the climatical con- 
ditions improved. Evidently the American 
government has profited much by the failure 
of its predecessors, the French, but we must 
remember that sanitary science has pro- 
[119] 



The American Tropics 



gressed to the extent of rendering possible 
today what was undreamed of in 1881. The 
French were thus greatly handicapped at the 
outset. Already it became evident that the 
present constructors had very wisely made 
the Canal Zone not only habitable but attrac- 
tive. Nowhere will you find laborers housed 
so well, or more care given to their well- 
being. 

A run of about seven miles brings you to 
Gatun, a town of about nine hundred inhabi- 
tants on the Chagres River which is navi- 
gable for small steamers to this point. Far- 
ther on the river becomes a stream of vari- 
able size according as it is the wet or dry 
season. From a sweeping flood it falls to a 
clear, gently flowing stream, which by cour- 
tesy is called a river. It is not unattractive 
and as we proceeded we saw that its banks 
were covered with a riotous profusion of 
verdure — stately palms, mahogany and ceiba 
trees in a setting of impenetrable jungle of 
vines and ferns. Neither was the ride un- 
[120] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



comfortable; the temperature varies but a 
few degrees throughout the year, ranging 
from seventy-four degrees Fahrenheit in 
January to eighty-six in March, and seldom 
higher than eighty-nine. The humidity ren- 
dered the air sultry, and on exertion one 
perspired freely. 

Although small settlements had been 
passed, the largest and most picturesquely 
situated was Emperador, or Empire, within a 
mile and a half of Culebra on the * ' Continen- 
tal Divide." Empire has a population of 
four thousand and is mainly distinguished 
by a hill two hundred and fifty feet high on 
which formerly stood an old fort, now oc- 
cupied by the barracks of the United States 
troops which guard the Canal Zone. The 
hill must have seen some stirring times in the 
factional warfares which preceded the 
United States occupation. 

The first evidence of actual work in dig- 
ging the Canal was in meeting, side tracked, 
a train-load of reddish rocks which were be- 
[121] 



The American Tropics 



ing removed to a place of deposit. The ap- 
proach, to the great divide, the back-bone 
of the Isthmus, was effected without inci- 
dent; in fact, thus far it had impressed me 
as a remarkably level country and admirably 
adapted to canal purposes. 

The Canal Zone is a strip of land granted 
in perpetuity to the United States, ten 
miles wide, extending over the proposed 
canal route through the Eepublic of Panama, 
together with all lands outside the Zone 
which may be found necessary in construct- 
ing or maintaining the Canal. The cities of 
Colon and Panama are not included in the 
Zone, but the United States is granted full 
power in all sanitary regulations and if 
necessary in maintaining order. The Zone 
is under military control. The compensation 
given the Republic of Panama was ten mil- 
lion dollars with an annual payment of two 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, begin- 
ning nine years from the time of ratification 
of the treaty. 

[122] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



As we passed along the impression of see- 
ing so many graveyards and such piles of 
abandoned machinery would have been de- 
pressing had it not been enlivened here and 
there by the presence of trim soldiers in 
khaki suits, groups of attractive cottages on 
the hillsides, and the effective appearance of 
the railroad and its equipment. 

It was about eleven o'clock when we ar- 
rived at Culebra, a small station on the ' ' Con- 
tinental Divide" about thirty-five miles 
from Colon and twelve miles from Panama. 
The celebrated Culebra Cut is less than a 
mile from the main line of the railroad and 
is connected by a branch line. We antici- 
pated a tiresome walk or climb as the case 
might be, but were agreeably surprised to 
find our train backing alongside the cut to 
a point where most of the excavating had 
been done. Standing on the edge of the cut 
it is difficult to realize the amount of labor 
required in making the necessary excavations 
at this point, which has furnished the crux 

. [123] 



The American Tropics 



of the labor problem if not of the whole 
Panama Canal construction. Other prob- 
lems of caring for swollen streams, particu- 
larly the Chagres River during heavy rain- 
falls, the construction of dams, locks, etc., 
being less spectacular, particularly in the 
dry season, appeal less forcibly to the cas- 
ual observer. The entire Isthmus is of vol- 
canic formation and at the Culebra Cut one 
can form a fair idea of its geological charac- 
ter. In color it is dark red or maroon, of 
soft stone which soon disintegrates when 
wet or exposed to the air. Although it was 
Sunday we had an opportunity of seeing the 
men at work blasting rocks, scooping them 
up with large steam shovels or dredges and 
loading the mass into cars propelled by pony 
locomotives. I was told that many of the 
abandoned French engines were daily 
brought into requisition, but not so with the 
thousand and one useless articles ranging 
from carpet tacks to pianos which were 
dumped into the capacious warehouses faster 
[124] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



than the dirt was excavated from the mam- 
moth trench. The inevitable result came when 
the labor and material which originally cost 
$400,000,000 was disposed of to the United 
States for $40,000,000. Of this enormous 
amount, it was said, probably on good author- 
ity, that one-third had been spent on the 
Canal, one-third wasted, and one-third stolen. 
When the French company abandoned the 
project, it was estimated to be about two- 
fifths finished. 

"We had been but a few minutes at the 
Cut when the colossal ditch was dotted with 
white gowns, white suits and white umbrel- 
las, the dots looking like men and women in 
miniature climbing its rocky slopes. I was 
glad of an opportunity to talk with some of 
the men employed on dredges and locomo- 
tives; with the less skilled laborers I was 
unable to converse. On the whole the men 
seemed satisfied with their work and pro- 
fessed as good health as they had had in the 
States. Most of them had been laid off for 
[125] 



The American Tropics 



two or three weeks during the past two years 
from malarial poisoning. 

At Culebra a fair idea can he obtained of 
the actual work now in progress as well as 
that done by the former constructors. The 
old and the new stand side by side, unkempt 
shacks which hardly deserve the name of 
houses are huddled closely together and con- 
trast strongly with neat cottages painted 
brown or green with white trimmings which 
are scattered over the neighboring slopes, 
presenting a pleasing picture. The modern 
houses for the unmarried men have one large 
sleeping room, with a dining and cooking 
building close by. For families either sep- 
arate cottages or buildings divided into 
apartments are provided. Open porches and 
verandas screened to shut out the pestiferous 
mosquito are seen on all buildings con- 
structed by the United States. Even on hills 
where these dwellings are located they are 
built on piles three or four feet high to allow 
free ventilation and to prevent the accumu- 

[126] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



lation of moisture. Such a procedure is 
necessary in a climate where the air is so 
heavily charged with humidity. The heat 
while not excessive is continuous, and those 
unacclimated who are accustomed to short 
seasons, varied by heat and cold, must regu- 
late their mode of living to suit the changed 
conditions. Breaking up the soil in a virgin 
country is always fraught with danger, and 
those who still recall the pestilential fevers 
attendant on the construction of canals even 
in the, at present, salubrious States of North 
America, can form some idea of the dangers 
encountered in the Isthmus of Panama. At 
the same time one must bear in mind that 
conditions in relation to the prevention of 
disease have changed, and most of the dis- 
eases most dreaded are now preventable. 
Only under military or despotic supervision, 
however, can the measures of prevention be 
carried out in the heterogeneous gathering 
of almost all races and conditions of men now 
congregated in the Canal Zone. Even in 
[127] 



The American Tropics 



well regulated communities, as observed in 
England and the United States, the most 
generally understood and easily preventable 
of all infectious diseases, smallpox, can- 
not always be prevented. Only by an intel- 
ligent supervision with absolute authority, 
therefore, can the work now so well under 
way go on unhampered by disease. 

The appalling death rate consequent on 
the construction of the Panama Railway dur- 
ing the late forties of the last century still 
lingers in memory, and many exaggerated re- 
ports, some of which emanate from dis- 
charged employees, of the unwholesomeness 
of the Isthmus have from time to time been 
given out, but under present conditions one 
need not hesitate to make his abode here and 
life may be accompanied by many enjoy- 
ments not easily procured in the temperate 
zone. 

The management has wisely given much 
attention to the social side of life, realizing 
the truth of the well worn saying, **A11 work 

[128] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



and no play makes Jack a dull boy ; ' ' accord- 
ingly it has instituted various forms of 
amusement, including outdoor and indoor 
games, in whicli the men are encouraged to 
compete for trophies and prizes. Reading 
rooms are also provided. Nor is the wander- 
ing minstrel neglected and occasionally a 
theatrical troupe is secured. The Y. M. C. 
A. has co-operated with the administration 
in various ways in endeavoring to surround 
the men with wholesome influences. 

So much has been said about securing la- 
borers for the work that I was interested 
while mingling with the men to note their 
nationalities. Fewer Chinamen were seen 
than I expected, nor was the negro overmuch 
in evidence. Bands of Italians and Span- 
iards, especially the latter, seemed to furnish 
a large quota of the laborers. I was told 
that the negro cannot be depended upon for 
more than three days out of six, while of all 
laborers the Northern Spaniard is most to be 
desired. The United States furnishes most 



[129] 



The American Tropics 



of the skilled workmen, and those employed 
in handling machinery, engineers and those 
of similar trades. 

To the average sight-seer the '* Continental 
Divide ' ' and the great Culebra Cut are some- 
thing of a disappointment. The highest 
point being less than two hundred and ninety 
feet above sea level, and the distance across 
the Isthmus about fifty miles, it impresses 
one as a level country. The mind does not 
readily grasp the more technical features of 
the work, so widely and often so wildly 
spoken of in the political press. 

The locomotive whistle finally collected 
the scattered units of our party, hot and per- 
spiring. In the comfortable coaches the 
** Continental Divide" was apparently soon 
forgotten when the stewards from the well- 
stocked Eaiserliche Schiff filed through the 
train with trays of sandwiches and ApoUin- 
aris water. As we approached the main line 
the regular train stood at Culebra station 
waiting for us to proceed. It was well 

[130] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



filled and, being Sunday, most of the men 
and women were in holiday garb. White 
suits with dark skins predominated. People 
seemed to enjoy themselves and it might 
have been Poughkeepsie, Elgin, or Newport 
News, instead of the most written about place 
of the American Continent. A few unimpor- 
tant settlements were passed. When with- 
in three miles of Panama the train passed 
through a wide mangrove swamp, and on 
emerging an imposing wooden structure, the 
main Government Hospital, was seen on a 
hill to our right which proved to be Mont 
Ancon, six hundred and thirty feet in height. 
The hospital, which is situated in the suburbs 
of Panama, was constructed by the French 
company and is admirably adapted in loca- 
tion and equipment for the purpose for which 
it was designed. It is still used as a hospital. 
Before entering the city our train switched off 
to allow us to see the great steamship wharf, 
La Boca, with the greenish waters of the 
Pacific Ocean spreading out in the distance. 
[131] 



The American Tropics 



We also had an opportunity of seeing the 
proposed Pacific entrance to the Canal. Two 
or three partially submerged battleships near 
an island in the distance we were told were 
the derelicts of a maritime encounter be- 
tween Columbia and some of her warring 
neighbors. 

One should approach the City of Panama, 
the oldest on the American Continent, with 
reverent steps, for here lie the remains of 
an illustrious past awaiting the quickening 
to a more gloripus future. Panama, an In- 
dian word signifying abounding in fish, was 
founded by Pedro Arias de Avila in 1518 on 
a coral and basaltic rock formation on a bay 
of the same name, although by sailors once 
known as the Bay of Calms. It enjoyed the 
blessings of plenty if not of peace for more 
than a century, being the emporium for the 
gold and silver mines of Peru and connected 
with the Atlantic seaboard by an overland 
trail. Among other things it gloried in hav- 
ing eight monasteries, one cathedral, two 
[132] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



churches and a hospital. It was the focus 
from which radiated the religion of Rome in 
the Western World, its votaries planting the 
cross and establishing missions along the Pa- 
cific slope northward to San Francisco, and 
southward among the more precipitous fast- 
nesses of the Andes. Prosperity, however, 
led to its destruction for it attracted the 
covetous eyes of Sir Henry Morgan, a Welsh 
pirate, who with his band penetrated its for- 
midable walls and for three weeks sacked and 
pillaged the town, leaving in place of archi- 
tectural beauty, wealth and an organized 
community, a mass of ruins, its gold dissi- 
pated and its surviving inhabitants led away 
in bondage. But a location so advantageous 
could not be abandoned, and three years 
later, in 1673, Villacorta re-located the city 
on a more secure site, five miles to the west- 
ward on a peninsula near the mouth of the 
Rio Grande, where Panama now stands. 
Only one of the ruins of old Panama re- 
mains, but of Panama as we know it there 

[133] 



The American Tropics 



are many evidences of age. Many of the 
narrow, dust buried streets, which during 
the rainy season become almost impassable 
quagmires have been paved with vitrified 
brick or macadam and some have been wid- 
ened. Others with cobblestone pavements 
which furnished admirable breeding pools 
for yellow fever-bearing stegomyia and the 
malaria-bearing anopheles, and from their ir- 
regular surfaces were the acme of discomfort, 
have been replaced by a more sanitary and 
serviceable roadway. Water and sewer con- 
duits have been constructed and the whole 
city has received a general and most thorough 
renovation. It is just beginning to dawn on 
the United States Government, in spite of 
the strong opposition always encountered 
from the uninformed and the professional 
politician, that armies without sanitation are 
in effectiveness only armies of straw. With- 
out sanitation the Panama Canal would be 
an impossibility, and much credit is due the 
present sanitary army corps, hampered as it 

[134] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



still is by inadequate encouragement, for the 
work it has done since the American occupa- 
tion in 1904. While sanitation has vouch- 
safed to all men the inalienable privilege of 
life in Panama, there has also been a reason- 
able regard to the pursuit of happiness. At- 
tractive drives have been laid out and a com- 
modious hostelry, the Hotel Tivoli, has been 
built on an eminence above, though adjacent 
to, the city, for the accomodation of the of- 
ficers and others stationed here, as well as 
for the accomodation of visitors who might 
not find the average fonda to their liking. 
Reference has previously been made to the 
topography of Panama, which may be fur- 
ther illustrated by the impression gained by 
two friends, who, arriving after nightfall, re- 
tired to a room in the Hotel Tivoli. Awaken- 
ing at sunrise they were surprised on look- 
ing out of their windows to see the sun rising 
from the Pacific Ocean which they of course 
expected to find in the west. Each pro- 
tested that he was awake, sober and sane — 

[135] 



The American Tropics 



but there in the west was the sun, whose 
conduct had always been considered well 
regulated and above reproach. If the orb 
were actually consistent, it must at the close 
of day set behind the hills toward the Atlan- 
tic in the east. On inquiry, however, it was 
found that the Bay of Panama at this point 
sweeps around the city, and what appeared 
to be a boundless main was in reality but an 
arm of the Pacific Ocean extending due east. 
Thus was the sun exonerated. 

While at present the city of Panama is a 
salubrious and comfortable place to live, one 
must not think that all of its ancient glory 
has departed. Few other influences than 
that of time have changed its appearance, 
while the moist and equable climate has lent 
a softening effect which enhances it in the 
eyes of the appreciative. It is true that of 
the old city but a single tower remains, that 
of the Cathedral, but the new Panama is old 
and sufficiently picturesque to warrant a 



[136] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



visit. ' Its approach from the ocean is said 
to be strikingly beautiful. 

The buildings have a character peculiarly 
their own. Many of the older houses are of 
three stories with the two upper ones pro- 
jecting over the street. In some of the nar- 
rower thoroughfares the distance from one 
house to another in the upper stories occu- 
pied as dwellings, permits of easy communi- 
cation, friendly or otherwise, with one's 
neighbors across the way. The lower floor 
is given up to stores, shops or even stables. 

The crowning feature of Panama, as of all 
Latin- American cities great and small, is the 
duomo or cathedral which was built in 1760. 
It has two lofty towers said to be the highest 
in Central America and a roof of mother-of- 
pearl. During the century after its con- 
struction it suffered but little from seismic 
disturbances, but six years after its restora- 
tion in 1876 it was badly shaken by an 
earthquake which threw down its facade. 
Its restoration is now nearing completion, al- 
[137] 



The American Tropics 



though the contrast between the old and the 
new is quite apparent. 

There are two main squares or miniature 
parks, ornamented profusely with tropical 
plants and trees, the Plaza de la Cathedral 
and the Plaza Santa Anna. The former is in 
the center of the city and is surrounded by 
the Cathedral, the Bishop's Palace, the 
ground floor of which is occupied by the 
office of the Panama Lottery Company, the 
Grand Central Hotel, City Hall and Admin- 
istration Building of the Panama Canal, to- 
gether with several banks. Of course the 
Plaza has a band stand where a fine band 
plays Sunday evenings — ^it would not be true 
to the traditions of tropical America if it did 
not. 

Another land-mark, the pride of the mu- 
nicipality and the Kepublic, is the Govern- 
ment Building which commands a beautiful 
view of the bay and surrounding hills. In 
the south-western part of the city there is 
an old sea wall or rampart now utilized as a 

[138] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



promenade, which commands an outlook of 
distinctive beauty. It overlooks the town 
with Ancon Hill in the background and the 
azure green of the Pacific, dotted with isles 
and lazy going sail, spreading its peaceful 
waters to the limit of vision. 

To gain an idea of the life of this most 
cosmopolitan city, which on the completion of 
the great inter-oceanic waterway will be- 
come the Mecca of tourists, one should attend 
a promenade concert at the Plaza of a Sun- 
day evening, and later, if occasion offer, a 
ball at the Commercial Club. Being more 
accessible, society is more cosmopolitan than 
in Caracas. The native ladies are more in 
evidence than is usual in the City of Mexico, 
but otherwise it possesses the general charac- 
teristics of the Latin race. Little drunken- 
ness is seen among the natives, but rum 
rivals malaria among the foreign element. 
Light wines and beer are not easily obtained. 

Commercially, Panama is the most inter- 
esting place we had visited. From its cen- 

[139] 



The American Tropics 



tral position and its advantage of a free port, 
its bazaars contain the wares of almost every 
clime, and at moderate prices — ^provided one 
has the time and ability to barter. Here 
are Panama hats galore direct from the 
source of manufacture in Ecuador, silk 
from China, linen and woolens from England 
and hardware from the United States, tropi- 
cal fruits from the Islands of the Blest, and 
cigars from almost everywhere. Everybody 
was on the qui vive for Panama hats. I was 
told at the office of the Hotel Tivoli that the 
Chinese merchants offered the best bargains 
in this commodity. Accordingly I procured 
a cab and went the rounds of the Chinese 
hat stores. Unfortunately the buyers were 
numerous and all but one of the stores or 
bazaars as they are called were closed on ac- 
count of a Chinese holiday. Neither love 
nor money would induce them to open their 
shops on this sacred day, so the few hats 
that were offered were snapped up at high 
prices. I found Panama the best market for 
[140] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



cigars and procured at an ordinary saloon a 
box of cigars that in price and flavor could 
not be equalled elsewliere. The weather 
during our stay continued muggy and exer- 
tion could not be made without effort and 
copious perspiration. The impression gained 
from a short visit was favorable and when 
the time came for leaving I wished to re- 
main. 

"We were now about nine degrees, or less 
than seven hundred miles, from the equator 
and had reached our southern latitudinal 
limit. At this point the sun at noon is north 
of the zenith from the 13th of April to the 
29th of August. From this point we were 
* Agoing homeward." Returning, as we had 
come, across the Isthmus, an opportunity was 
offered to allow impressions gained on the 
outward trip to crystallize into more definite 
shape. 

The Isthmian Canal will be built. Climat- 
ical conditions are not especially unfavor- 
able, for the Canal Zone has an equable cli- 
[141] 



The American Tropics 



mate and is never exposed to excessive heat. 
Its position is sucli that labor and supplies 
can be advantageously obtained, for both are 
offered in abundance. The United States 
Government has already improved the sani- 
tary conditions of the Zone and rendered it 
as habitable as almost any part of the globe, 
and wages are high. The experimental 
stage has passed and a good start at the ac- 
tual excavating has been made. In regard 
to the lock or the sea level construction 
there is an unanimity of opinion, so far as I 
could ascertain, in favor of the former. A 
simple engineering problem confronts the 
constructors. 

So much for the local conditions of the 
spot. Conditions influencing the Canal con- 
struction outside the Zone are more compli- 
cated. These complicated and difficult prob- 
lems arise mainly from the machinations of 
politicians and their friends, who desire to 
derive profit and clamor when it is not forth- 
coming. With the vigorous policy inaugu- 
[142] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



rated. and maintained by the United States 
Government, the construction of the Canal 
is assured and I believe in a reasonable length 
of time — the American people will not per- 
mit so great an undertaking to fail. Con- 
ceived by Angel Saavedra in 1520, the pres- 
ent route recommended by Antonio Galvao 
in 1550, begun by the De Lesseps in 1881, it 
will when completed redound to the lasting 
credit of the United States for its actual con- 
struction and contribute materially to its 
advancement, while rendering a perpetual 
service to the civilized world. 



[143] 






CHAPTER VI 

ON a tropical sea sailing in the teeth 
of the trade wind is far more pleas- 
ant than when the wind is astern. 
Going in a north-easterly direction we felt 
the refreshing change and the dolce far 
niente life on shipboard began to bring out 
anew individual peculiarities. It was pleas- 
ing to assume that for two nights and a day- 
after leaving Colon there would be nothing 
to disturb the quiet repose and inactivity 
which invites calm reflection. In this, how- 
ever, I was mistaken. At first, rumors of 
dissatisfaction were heard which, as the day 
wore on, culminated in a meeting in the af- 
ter cabin to take cognizance of various al- 
leged wrongs. First, the rumored differences 
between the captain and the manager of the 
shore trips called for adjudication. As 
[144] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



neither of the supposed belligerents appeared 
to present his case, it resulted in the signing 
of petitions and counter petitions which were 
to be forwarded to the Company, to the As- 
sociated Press and scattered to the winds by 
the Marconi machine on the hurricane deck 
to insure its being caught by passing craft in 
search of news and thus given to the world. 
Alas, that so much oratory and judicial acu- 
men should be destined to waste its vigor on 
the ocean air ! But as nothing ever appeared 
in print and as the outside world moved on 
without even a tremor, such was doubtless 
the case. The agitation came, however, most 
opportunely and served in lieu of the usual 
entertainment night on the trans-Atlantic 
liner. It also brought out latent talents and 
acted as a safety valve to the enforced in- 
dolence of highly charged brain cells. Fur- 
thermore, it enabled people to become better 
acquainted — ^whether they were or were not 
on better terms afterward need not be dis- 
cussed at this time. 



[145] 



The American Tropics 



The distance from Colon to Kingston is 
five hundred and fifty miles. The second 
night being cool I slept under a blanket with 
the electric fan at rest for the first time since 
crossing the Tropic of Cancer. The follow- 
ing morning we expected to sight the Island 
of Jamaica, land of rum and ginger, at an 
early hour, but it was nearly seven o'clock 
before the first dim, cloud-like outline ap- 
peared over the port beam. At nine o'clock 
the sky being clear, although softened by an 
ocean haze, the lofty mountains of the in- 
terior loomed among the clouds which hid 
their summits. We had been slowly skirting 
the southern part of the island past Portland 
Point, and about eleven o'clock began 
threading our way between treacherous coral 
reefs into the spacious harbor of Kingston. 
To the right as we approached Port Eoyal 
the wrecked Prinzessin Victoria Louise was 
seen but a short distance away, with her bow 
nearly submerged and her hull resting on 
the rocks. It is always sad to see a craft 

[146] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



undergoing slow process of dissolution, but 
especially so was it in tlie case of this beau- 
tiful sea-palace, thus untimely abandoned, in 
the prime of youth, to the elements which 
she had at one time seemed so capable of 
withstanding. Farther to the right resting 
high on the beach at low tide the second vic- 
tim of the fleet, Prinz Waldemar, lay rust- 
covered but otherwise apparently uninjured. 
From the hurricane deck on that beautiful 
day, the 19th of February, Kingston and its 
environs presented a memorable picture. 
Landward, a rather monotonous conglomer- 
ation of bricks and white coral masonry was 
seen, relieved by occasional patches of green. 
The surface gradually rises as it recedes from 
the shore, when it becomes dotted with more 
scattered buildings, then come the green foot 
hills with valleys thickly wooded and finally 
the mountains towering grandly in the hazy 
distance. Behind us lay the wide land- 
locked bay with the sea beyond dancing in 
the glittering tinsel of eternal summer. 
[147] 



The American Tropics 



Lest the third victim should be added in 
a harbor rendered extremely hazardous from 
the great earthquake which had not yhoUy 
subsided, we moved with great caution, and, 
nearing the Palisadoes and the palm-bordered 
extremity of Port Eoyal, the first evidences 
of the recent great earthquake were seen. 
Palms half submerged, their fronds wither- 
ing, showed where the earth's crust had 
sunken. We rounded this point, which is a 
coral reef projecting from the mainland 
where the ancient city stood, and reached 
our dock at noon. The town is situated on 
a low, level beach extending backward about 
a mile to where the land merges into the 
foot hills and beyond towers the Green 
Mountain Range, its topmost peak being 
7,500 feet, the highest in Jamaica. The for- 
mation suggests a huge amphitheatre. 

Jamaica, the largest of the British West 
Indies, is one hundred and forty-four miles 
long, fifty in width, and contains four thous- 
and one hundred and ninety-three square 
[148] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



miles. ' It was discovered by Columbus in 
1494 and has been in the possession of Eng- 
land since 1655. The island is mainly noted 
for its luxuriant tropical vegetation. Being 
mountainous, the climate and its flora nat- 
urally vary according to the elevation. From 
its easy communication with the United 
States it is a favorite winter resort for many 
Americans. 

There is a heavy yearly rainfall which 
furnishes numerous springs and streams from 
which it derives not only its vernal charac- 
teristics, but also its name, Xaymaca, an 
Indian word signifying the land of woods 
and waters. Its present population is about 
700,000, less than 15,000 of whom are white. 

Kingston, the capital and main, though not 
the oldest, city, had a population before the 
earthquake of 45,000, but at the time of my 
visit many had taken refuge in other parts 
of the island. It is known to have suffered 
at least two severe earthquakes and numer- 
ous cyclones. Of the former the most not- 

[149] 



The American Tropics 



able was that of 1692, when part of Port 
Royal on which the city stood was submerged. 
It is claimed that on certain days when the 
water is clear, some of the old city with its 
dwellings, churches, warehouses and forts 
may still be seen, but this, like the native 
rum, must be taken with due conservatism. 
The last great terrestrial disturbance oc- 
curred on the fourteenth of January, 1907, 
falling like a death blow to the already mor- 
ibund island — moribund from a sociological 
and commercial point of view. It is general- 
ly admitted, however, that with the comple- 
tion of the Panama Canal conditions in the 
West Indies will improve, and in no place 
more than Jamaica. 

The recent earthquake was described by 
quite an intelligent cab-driver — called here 
buggyman. The inquiry of my friend the 
doctor, **Had the people of Jamaica any pre- 
monition of the impending disaster?'' did 
not elicit an immediate reply, whereupon the 
Columbia professor, noticing the pause, in- 
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A Midwinter Cruise 



terpreted: ''Did you have any warning of 
the quake before it came?" This had the 
desired effect and he sketched it substantial- 
ly thus: "I was sittin' 'ere hin my buggy 
commin' from railway station. Took a fare 
for de tree 'clock train, sah, and had got 
along just over dar [pointing with his whip] 
w'en hall of a suddint the 'orse stumble and 
I see pavement movin' hup and' down, sah, 
an' I know it earthquake for sure." He 
further said that the few dwellings around 
him tottered and their walls began to fall. 
From the business part of the town there 
was a rumbling noise like distant thunder 
with rising clouds of dust. This lasted about 
a minute, or it might have been less, but it 
seemed a long time — so long, he said, he 
thought it would never stop. 

As described by a merchant who was 
seated in his counting-house on one of the 
busy streets: ''It came suddenly just as I 
was sitting at my desk talking with a cus- 
tomer; everything became shaky and the 

[151] 



The American Tropics 



walls crumbled and fell about our heads, 
with blinding, suffocating dust. I groped 
my way to the street uninjured, but found 
it almost impossible to find my way, nor did 
I know where to go. Fortunately I remained 
in the center of the street until it was over 
and the dust cleared sufficiently for me to 
pick my way to a place of safety, away from 
the tottering buildings. Soon a fire broke out, 
and the fire department, crippled as it was, 
could do little to control it. The man or 
woman severely injured or caught in the 
ruins had no chance. ' ' 

The work of rescue was still going on at 
the time of our visit. A roadway in the 
center of the street had been cleared but 
nothing habitable or in any way serviceable 
was seen. Some fled to churches, the most 
unsafe of all places, for of the churches of 
Kingston but a single spire was left and it 
showed the struggle through which it had 
passed. 

Kingston was paralyzed, as well it might 

[152] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



be, its, people, half -crazed with fear, were 
startled anew from day to day by the quiver- 
ing earth. In the midst of this, pandemon- 
iion was suddenly let loose by the boom of 
cannon and many thought the foundations of 
the world had given way. But it was only 
Davis's guns giving the Government salute 
as the United States cruiser "Dixie," laden 
with relief supplies, entered the bay on her 
mission of peace and mercy. 

As elsewhere intimated, John Bull in 
cloudland on his native turf and in a con- 
genial setting is one of the most companion- 
able of men. But removed from the sub- 
dued light and cool air of merrie England 
and placed in the glare of the tropics, my ex- 
perience is that he becomes the most crot- 
chety bundle of nerves imaginable. And on 
this occasion, as far as one can ascertain, 
there was developed a pronounced incompati- 
bility between the American Captain with all 
good intentions and his bluster and noise, 
and the overwrought Governor of the strick- 
[153] 



The American Tropics 



en island, probably possessing an over-'sen- 
sitized conservatism. The result was mis- 
understanding and, somewhere, an appalling 
blunder. 

The conditions existing some weeks later 
the camera can best portray for little but 
ruins remained of the erstwhile prosperous 
and beautiful town. In our ramblings we 
found that about half of the Post-office build- 
ing had been left standing and was still util- 
ized by the Post-office department. Across 
the way an extemporized souvenir shop did a 
thriving business. In the center of the city 
stood the prison with its high, brick-walled 
enclosure. Both the prison and the outer- 
yard walls suffered severely from the shock. 
On this account much apprehension was felt 
by the inhabitants immediately after the 
earthquake lest the inmates should escape — 
as it was reported they were doing. Cap- 
tain Davis landed and marched his marines 
directly to this point, restored order and 
rendered such other aid as the situation 

[154] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



seemed to call for, until informed by the 
Governor that his services were not needed, 
in words even less diplomatic but to that ef- 
fect. 

The panic subsiding the inhabitants were 
finally encamped in two main settlements in 
the suburbs. An attractive drive outside the 
town leads to this city of tents; farther on 
we passed the barracks, now rendered use- 
less by falling masonry and breaks in the 
walls, and turning, the road leads to the 
beautiful grounds of the Governor's Palace, 
at that time the residence of Governor 
Swettenham. Just as we approached the 
Palace a heavy shower, or more properly 
speaking downpour, came without warning 
as occurs at times in the tropics, and caused 
everyone to skelter for cover. Our driver 
halted under a large outspreading tree, but 
the colored sentry at the steps invited us to 
drive under the broad porte cochere. 

The Governor was ''not at home" as the 
Palace was not considered safe for habitation 
[155] 



The American Tropics 



and he and his family resided in a tent in the 
rear. The sentry wearing his Majesty the 
King's uniform was inclined to be loquacious 
while glancing furtively at a coverless cigar 
box with a few coins on the bottom which 
sat on a stool near the visitor's book of 
registry. Among other things, he said the 
Governor's family was sitting in a room ad- 
joining the dining saloon when the shock 
came; none were seriously injured although 
much broken glass and plaster fell around 
them. As in other West Indian isles be- 
longing to Britain the grounds surrounding 
the Governor's Palace are rendered attrac- 
tive more from the broad expanse covered 
with an exuberant growth of tropical verd- 
ure than from any special beauty of the 
buildings. 

After the morning's drive it was an agree- 
able change to draw up at the Constant 
Spring Hotel, which is six miles from Kings- 
ton and connected with the city by a tram- 
line. The hotel is a large rambling struc- 

[156] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



ture with attractive grounds, facing a broad 
savanna. From the cupola majestic pros- 
pects lie outspread. There is always some- 
thing restful in a well-conducted English 
inn, and both restful and refreshing this one 
seemed to be though far removed from its 
parent stem. Something more than refresh- 
ing, however, was the rum fizz flavored with 
native limes which was served on the broad 
veranda. The luncheon was like many 
other luncheons and made us even more ap- 
preciative of our own ship's larder. This 
building suffered considerably from the 
earthquake, one corner with tons of masonry 
fell away, rendering that part of the hotel 
unfit for use. Everywhere cracked walls and 
plaster told of the shaking up it had had. 

Returning to Kingston on a tram-car we en- 
countered the most accommodating conduc- 
tor we had seen since leaving Port of Spain, 
and like his fellow workmen in Trinidad he 
was not only white but an Englishman 
thoroughly baked and brown. Seeing that 
[157] 



The American Tropics 



we were on the lookout, camera in hand, he 
offered to hold the car should we wish to take 
any views — and he actually did it without 
our asking. Did I say the Briton in the 
tropics is intolerable ? Well, I know at least 
two who are not. 

There is little to detain the tourist in 
Kingston, but two or three weeks may be 
spent comfortably in driving, touring or 
walking over the Island — provided one likes 
to walk in warm weather. One of the most 
interesting places, as well as the oldest in 
Jamaica, is Spanish Town, which was founded 
in 1630 and called San Jago de la Vega. 
Like many Spanish names this proved too 
formidable for the English-speaking bucca- 
neers, who re-christened it as indicated. 
These daring old sea dogs seemed to have 
braved everything until they encountered 
the Spanish language — ^this they never mas- 
tered. The seat of government was former- 
ly here and the light pink-colored King's 
house and other public buildings formerly 
[158] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



occupied by the colonial officials still remain 
in good preservation. The streets are short 
and to reach any point numerous turns must 
be made. The Cathedral is probably the 
most interesting place of all and its interior 
well repays a visit. It presents a modem 
exterior, for part of its walls, as also spire 
and roof, are of comparatively recent con- 
struction. It was originally built by the 
Spaniards in 1523 as the Church of the Red 
Cross, but was nearly destroyed in 1655. 
In its restoration, unfortunately, it was great- 
ly modernized, although the crypt bears evi- 
dences of age. It probably is entitled to the 
distinction attaching to the oldest building 
on the island, and, excepting the cathedrals 
of Cartagena and Havana, the oldest church 
on the American Continent. Formerly Ro- 
man Catholic, it is now Anglican and con- 
tains the remains of some of Jamaica's illus- 
trious dead. I read the epitaphs on several 
slabs in the crypt dated as far back as 1640. 
Here is one more legible than others : 
[159] 



The American Tropics 



"Here lies Sir Thomas Lynch at ease and blest; 
Would you know more ye world will speak ye 
rest." 

It is a satisfaction to think of Sir Thomas 
thus comfortably provided for despite his 
name, though of many of his compeers one 
jinds no such assuring statement, nor does 
history offer any plea in their behalf. On 
the contrary ^'ye world" does not speak in 
the highest terms of the average seventeenth 
century buccaneer. In the streets of Span- 
ish Town and Port Royal were found, ac- 
cording to Byron Edwards, ' ' the most ungod- 
ly people on the face of the earth." But 
while virtue usually meets its just reward, 
so also does vice, and whether Sir Thomas 
Lynch had a hand in it or not, we know that 
those not executed on Gallows Point by one 
of their own number, Morgan, after he was 
knighted by the grace of Charles the Second, 
slid off into the sea with the earthquake of 
1692, and were thus more decently if not 
more summarily exterminated. 

[160] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



The active slave trade between the "West 
Indies and the west coast of Africa tended 
likewise to give a bad name to the chief ports 
where the slavers discharged their cargoes. 
It is estimated that more than 600,000 slaves 
were landed at Port Royal between 1680 and 
1786. 

As a reminder of the active contention 
which in the seventeenth century existed be- 
tween England, Spain, France and Holland, 
stands Rodney's statue flanked by cannon 
taken from the Yille de Paris to commem- 
orate his victory over De Grasse who com- 
manded the French fleet in 1781. There is a 
neat looking inn in Spanish Town, the Rio 
Cobre, near the river of the same name, 
where one is presented on entering with bas- 
kets of oranges and other tropical fruits. 
But we tarried only long enough to secure a 
buggyman with a superannuated horse to 
drive to the celebrated "Bog-Walk" a cor- 
ruption of Boca del Aqua, mouth of the 
waters. Of the picturesque drives I can re- 
[1611 



The American Tropics 



call, none surpasses in point of beauty, and 
what G-ermans would call gemiithlichkeit, 
tbe Bog- Walk of Jamaica. The *' Hobby- 
Drive ' ' on the north coast of Devon ; the long 
sweeps of the Yellowstone with their trails 
of dust; that between Sorrento and Castel- 
lammare bordering the Bay of Naples; the 
** Prince of Wales' Drive" from the Lakes 
of Killarney to Glengariff and many others 
have their charms; some are beyond descrip- 
tion and each has some feature peculiar to 
itself, but the drive of nine miles along the 
Rio Cobre River from Spanish Town to the 
Natural Bridge, the Grorge, and beyond to 
the railway station, is unmatched outside 
Jamaica and must be seen to be fully appre- 
ciated. The roadway is macadamized with 
white coral, and for the first few miles trim 
cottages and farm-houses surrounded with 
forests of bananas are passed. Then the lig- 
num vitae, the wood of life, bearing beauti- 
ful blue flowers and wood which is used to 
make policemen's clubs, may be seen on the 
[162] 



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A Midwinter Cruise 



roadside. We drove over a rapid-flowing 
stream, an irrigation ditch, the driver called 
it, with its banks lined with palms. Clumps 
of flowering orchids and numerous othei' 
plants enlivened the scene with a blaze of 
blossom. Maiden-hair ferns in great profu- 
sion and giant ferns from eight to ten feet 
high, the wild passion flower, the hibiscus 
and primrose, the wild convolvulus and the 
iris, are seen everywhere. Through this 
junglewood of bloom we came to deep defiles 
with overhanging rocks of coral draped in 
the rank luxuriance of the tropics. As a 
climax to this beauty streak of nature comes 
the natural bridge of coral rock hung with 
vines and flowering plants, forming an arch 
of strength and beauty sixty feet above the 
waters of the Rio Cobre which it spans. At 
this point the river is narrow and swift- 
flowing. Returning, a punk or flat-bottomed 
boat may be secured on which to drift down 
the stream. 
Numerous other excursions with the bug- 
[163] 



The American Tropics 



gyman may be taken; those to the hill towns 
or stations as they are called, are somewhat 
fatiguing, but offer an opportunity of seeing 
some striking scenery and the diversified 
flora of both the temperate and torrid zones. 
Newcastle, the most spoken of, is the Jamai- 
can Military Sanitorium and contains the 
Hill Station cantonments where the few 
troops on the island must spend part of the 
time, because of its healthful climate. The 
rank and file of the army finds this a doleful 
place, and as most of the colored troops of 
the line are immune to anything the torrid 
zone can produce, it is not spoken of with 
enthusiasm by the West Indian Tommy At- 
kins. 

Of greater interest, however, and more 
easily reached, are the celebrated Castleton 
and Hope Gardens, the former being 
the Governments' greatest botanic sta- 
tion for the cultivation of tropical trees. 
It is situated on the Wag- Water River (for- 
merly Aqua Alta) , and as it is only nineteen 
[164] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



miles fi*om Kingston it may be reached by 
the buggyman. It contains much of the tropi- 
cal growth we had seen elsewhere but with 
some additions which, with its careful ar- 
rangement and classification, entitle it to be 
considered, as it is, the botanist's paradise. 
This and the Hope Garden Reservation of 
two hundred acres near the foot-hills and 
the government Cinchona Plantation of one 
hundred and fifty acres, twenty-one miles 
from Kingston, offer a greater variety of 
vegetable life than can elsewhere be seen 
and even excels the horticultural collection 
at Port of Spain. 

There are seven hundred miles of road- 
ways in Jamaica leading to every place worth 
seeing and as they are excellent and the 
buggyman omnipresent, the most satisfac- 
tory way of seeing the Island, provided 
one has the time, is to secure the least ob- 
jectionable of these creatures and follow the 
white streaks of macadam and one 's own in- 
clinations. In so doing you will look down 
[165] 



The American Tropics 



from mountain iheights on yellow pastures of 
guinea grass three or four thousand feet be- 
low, and, descending, pass impenetrable for- 
ests and emerge into valleys fragrant with 
spicy odors and gorgeous with flowers. 
Again you will pass plantations, fruit farms, 
sweet-smelling pimento groves and foul- 
smelling sugar mills. Or by following the 
chain of roads which encircle the Island you 
will cross roaring rivers dashing into foam 
as their waters meet the surf. At other 
places your road-way will be flanked on 
both sides with long rows of overhanging 
palms bowing gracefully. You may not 
know whether they are salaaming to you or to 
each other, but you will enjoy it, it all seems 
so oriental. Again you will see coffee plan- 
tations, orange orchards, and flelds of the 
ever-present banana. 

Of course the inns may not hold out strong 
inducements to this mode of travel and the 
buggyman may be a land pirate, but these 
are only minor inconveniences which may 

[166] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



be reduced to a minimum if one has a bicycle, 
or better, an automobile. With a bicycle 
any inn will seem luxurious, and any bed a 
bed of eiderdown; besides you will not be 
fettered to the jehu with a "rig;" while with 
an automobile you can add your quota of 
dust to uninviting inns, and halt only at the 
best places. 

Railway lines connect Kingston with Min- 
tego Bay on the northwest coast, a distance 
of one hundred and thirteen miles, Port An- 
tonio on the north-east coast, seventy-five 
miles, and Ewarton in the center of the Is- 
land thirty miles from Kingston. The diffi- 
culties of railway construction in Jamaica 
are great, but the winding lines through rank 
vegetation, over mountains, through narrow 
defiles, and over high trestles make for the 
pleasure of the tourist and withal afford 
the quickest and most economical way of 
*' doing" the Island. The railway carriages 
are a compromise between the English and 
American systems. There are first and sec- 

[167] 



The American Tropics 



ond class compartments and in place of the 
usual *' smoker" there is a carriage near the 
engine, not with stationary seats, but with 
chairs and a table or two where one can en- 
joy fruit or liquid refreshments which may 
be ordered of the colored waitress in atten- 
dance. Securing a ticket at some of the 
smaller stations is quite a formidable affair, 
especially if there be many waiting and the 
purchasers have not the amount ready in 
the coin of the land, which is neither wholly 
English nor American, although American 
dollars are taken at their face value. The 
deliberate way in which the ticket seller con- 
ducts his affairs, however, insures him against 
any danger of nervous prostration from the 
mental strain of this monetary tangle. But 
the experienced know there is really no need 
of haste — ^for the train will wait. 

Port Antonio has of late become a place 

of commercial importance on account of the 

American fruit traJBfic conducted here. In 

fact the place is almost wholly built up with 

[1681 



A Midwinter Cruise 



American capital. Because of this and tlie 
direct communication with New York and 
Boston, many Americans prefer Port Antonio 
to Kingston. There is further, to attract 
American patronage, a mammoth winter re- 
sort hotel, The Tichfield, conducted by- 
Americans and similar to the resorts on the 
Atlantic seaboard of the United States. This 
building suffered but little during the recent 
earthquake, although cracked walls and 
plaster were sufficient to send many of its 
inmates skeltering homeward on the first 
steamers. The view from the Tichfield is 
superb. In the distance to the rear, the 
Blue Mountains blend with the soft azure 
of the sky, while stretching out in front is 
tlie broad expanse of the Caribbean Sea, 
blue as the indigo with which some of the 
craft, lazily sunning themselves in the off- 
ing, are probably laden. 

The environs of Port Antonio are more 
primitive than those of the older town of 
Kingston. With a buggyman one can ex- 

[169] 



The American Tropics 



plore native jungles hiding Shuts built by the 
*'wild men;" harmless they are, though in 
many respects similar to their kind beyond 
seas in Afric's sunny clime. There are no 
dangerous reptiles in Jamaica, which is com- 
forting to the curious traveler. In fact while 
it excels in flora, its fauna is remarkably re- 
stricted, including only a few ingunas in the 
forests, lizards and alligators in stagnant 
swales and swamps, fresh water fishes in its 
rivers, and birds of various kinds, a few with 
beautiful plumage. 

No better place than Jamaica can be se- 
lected for studying the so-called race ques- 
tion. For four hundred years the island has 
been dominated by white men, who at an 
early stage of its development, imported, 
doubtless much against their will, an alien 
race of blacks to serve as slaves. This en- 
abled the main industries of the island to be 
developed, while it also created two distinct 
classes of society, the bondmen and their 
owners. The latter amassed wealth and 
[170] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



lived in affluence, building estates with 
"great houses" and spending much of their 
time and all of their money in Europe, 
mainly in the mother country, England. 
This may have been well for the capitals of 
Europe, but was debilitating to the infant 
colony. Then came the agitation for the lib- 
eration of slaves, and in 1775 Jamaica, or 
some part of it, petitioned the home govern- 
ment stating that ''the trade to Africa for 
slaves is neither consistent with sound policy, 
the laws of nature, nor morality;" not until 
1834, however, were the slaves liberated. 
For seventy years, therefore, the negro in 
Jamaica has enjoyed the advantages of free- 
dom. During this time the exchequer has 
decreased as well as the relative size of the 
white population. The blacks, on the other 
hand, have not only multiplied with amazing 
rapidity, but a few of them have acquired 
a fair degree of understanding, and a still 
smaller number some capital. On the whole, 
then, the African is the gainer, having drawn 
[171] 



The American Tropics 



largely in the process of civilization from 
association with the European, and at the 
same time, judging from the number of mul- 
attoes, has drawn a considerable amount of 
white blood into his veins. That he is capa- 
ble of self-government or that he would be 
better under ''home rule," no one, probably, 
who has observed the opera bouffe govern- 
ment of Haiti will admit. 

The one thousand public and private 
schools of Jamaica, a few preparatory col- 
leges and many churches, are slowly doing 
their work in the uplifting of the African 
race. That more effort is not required of 
the negro is securing a livlihood is aganist 
him. For high attainment or even the hope 
of attainment comes only through ages of 
toil. The church is more attractive to the 
negro than the school, but the benches of the 
latter are largely recruited from the former. 
For the benefit of the negro, therefore, it is 
to be hoped that matters will remain as they 
are ; as for the white man in Jamaica, he be- 

[172] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



longs .to a different zone, where generations 
of struggling ancestors have endowed him 
with the brains and brawn which make him 
the power, among men that he is. 

In spite of the natural beauty which at- 
tracts many to Jamaica, it was with feelings 
of relief that I saw our ship at sundown 
backing out of her slip at Kingston Harbor. 
Some apprehension had been felt for our 
safety, as almost daily tremors of the earth 
were felt. In the atmosphere of impending 
doom which pervaded the capital at the 
time, it was difficult to appreciate fuUy the 
prodigality with which nature has endowed 
the Island, while things terrestial seemed so 
fleeting, so unstable, and the smile of the 
land, though fair, seemed like the smile of 
the siren which lures to ruin. 



[173] 



CHAPTER VII. 

ON clearing Kingston Harbor some 
beautiful sunset effects were seen. 
There had been few on the whole 
trip — none such as at times makes nightfall 
glorious in the north, but then it may not 
have been the season for beautiful sunsets. 
It is a night's run from Kingston to Santiago 
de Cuba and at daybreak the cloud-like out- 
line of land was seen on our starboard side. 
The sky was overcast and it was much cooler, 
with a fresh wind, although the sea was calm. 
Ulsters were needed for the first time since 
warm weather was encountered, but as the 
sun rose they were soon discarded. 

The entrance to Santiago Harbor is reached 
through a narrow channel, guarded to the 
right by El Morro (the promontory), a com- 
bination of mediaeval fortress and castle, 
and to the left by the rugged foothills of 
the Sierras. The place is of interest mainly 
from the memorable battle which occurred 
[174] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



there July 3rd, 1898, between the American 
squadron under Sampson and Schley and 
the Spanish flotilla commanded by Cervera, 
in which the latter was quickly demolished, 
terminating the war with Spain for the ** lib- 
eration" of Cuba. As we lay facing the en- 
trance awaiting the pilot, the pinkish-brown 
pile of masonry, lit up by the morning sun, 
surmounted by the castle, towered above 
us. About the only visible evidence of ill 
usage the fort has received during the four 
hundred years it has frowned alike on bold 
and timorous foe are the excavations or cav- 
erns in its rocky foundation made by the 
waves. To the left, surmounting the Sierra 
Maestro Range, stands Pico Turquino, eight 
thousand feet above the sea. We were dis- 
appointed in not seeing some relics of the 
vanquished squadron, they being strewn for 
forty miles westward along the cost. We 
lay to, however, sufficiently near to see the 
tower in which Hobson was imprisoned after 
the sinking of the ''Merrimac" by himself 
[175] 



The American Tropics 



and seven brave companions on the 3rd of 
June, 1898, in an attempt to blockade the en- 
trance to the harbor and to prevent Cer- 
vera's escape. It was in the most exposed 
rampart that Hobson was confined, and 
the commandant is said to have informed 
the American squadron that if they fired on 
the fort he would be the most exposed. As 
we passed the rock-ribbed fortress we could 
see at close range ramparts receding in tiers 
set off here and there with overhanging sen- 
try boxes and winding stairways leading to 
the castle some two hundred feet above us. 
All seemed as old as the rock on which it 
stands, and picturesque beyond any fort we 
had seen. A second fortress smaller than 
the first and separated from it by a sand 
beach was passed, and the hills rose on both 
sides of the channel, reminding one of a 
miniature Hudson River scene for a distance 
of about four miles, when the channel broad- 
ens into a land-locked bay sufficiently large 
to accommodate several navies, provided 
[176] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



they are on friendly terms, and sufficiently 
deep to sink them without disturbing navi- 
gation should they conclude to disagree. To 
the right on a slope which terminates in the 
mountainous interior stands Santiago, the 
second city in size, and once the capital of 
Cuba, built by the Spaniards in 1514. We 
dropped anchor about a mile from shore and 
were soon in line, cameras in hand, ready to 
board the launches, but there was some de- 
lay, the officers at the bottom of the landing 
stairs stating that we must wait for the port 
medical officer. The sun grew hotter and 
still the perspiring line impatiently waited. 
Finally a naptha launch carrying the Ameri^ 
can flag drew up and there was a long con- 
ference between our ship's doctor and the 
port health officer. Then more delay until, 
finally, we were told that we were in quar- 
antine. Forty days and forty nights shalt 
thou be unclean, according to the Mosaic 
law — but the length of segregation has be- 
come modified and now varies according to 
[177] 



The American Tropics 



the incubation period of the infective disease. 
We had, however, the satisfaction of know- 
ing that we were in quarantine for yellow 
fever, the most deadly pestilence of the trop- 
ics. On the other hand, some of the more 
timorous became panic stricken; might not 
the disease break out at any moment, said 
one; might it not be already on the ship 
although concealed, ventured another. It is 
true we had called at infected posts and had 
embarked two passengers at Colon, which 
enjoys the distinction of being a veritable 
incubator of yellow fever. People began to 
realize that their color was unnaturally yel- 
low and it was conspicuously apparent and 
had been for some time that all were more 
or less brown. But the panacea came; the 
ship was to be fumigated — and the effect was 
magical. Somewhere in the hold sulphur 
was burned; not much, for there was little 
need, but just enough to satisfy the law's 
demands and to quell the anxiety of the tim- 
orous. Henceforth we were clean from a 
[178] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



legal point of view, but not sufficiently 
clean to land at Santiago. No ! that privilege 
was denied us, but we might be permitted 
to land at Havana, provided — Then we 
gazed long and longingly at the sunlit town, 
attractive in its reds and pinks and blues 
and yellows. With our glasses we could 
pick out the Cathedral with its towers, said 
to be the largest on the island, the Marine 
Park and the Plaza^ — ^the Plaza with its band- 
stand. Some of the larger, more modern 
buildings are of red brick covered with 
red tiles. We could even see the rows of 
cabs and the restless movements of their 
drivers. Fortunately we could not hear 
what they said, but their disappointment 
must have been keen — a harvest ripe and 
awaiting the sickle, devastated by hurri- 
cane and inundated by flood. The effect as 
we saw it was oriental, with a warmth of 
coloring in keeping with the atmosphere!, 
which from its protected and basin-like sur- 
roundings was, as the sun reached the zenith, 
[179] 



The American Tropics 



hotter than was at all comfolrtable. Be- 
yond the low range of hills behind the town 
we could see (with our mind's eye better 
than with our field glasses) San Juan Hill 
seamed by overgrown trenches and sur- 
mounted by a monument; and farther away 
El Caney with its dismantled block-house 
where now, we were told, enwrapped in 
sweet solitude the mocking bird trills his 
notes in an atmosphere of peace, and the 
husbandman turns soil once trod by the iron 
heel. Before sundown, however, we were 
handed the long-looked-for and long- 
whistled-for documents which permitted our 
departure according to the regulations of 
quarantine. Just why we were detained all 
day without being permitted to land or to 
proceed peacefully on our way, will, so far 
as the passengers are concerned, probably 
always remain one of the unsolved mysteries 
of uniformed officialdom. 

Night was falling on the dismantled tur- 
rets of El IVEorro as we cleared the channel 
[180] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



and put out to sea. Our course lay eastward 
past Daiguiri (twenty miles) where Sliafter 
landed our troops for the invasion of Cuba, 
which in turn resulted in the dislodgment of 
Cervera ; and twenty miles farther we passed 
Guantanamo where at anchor, like faithful 
war dogs of the sea, lay the Atlantic squad- 
ron, blinking at us with eyes of fire. It may 
be of interest to recall that this harbor was 
given us for the assistance rendered Cuba 
in her struggle for *' freedom." It is the 
finest land-locked harbor on the south coast 
and rivals Nipe on the north, being from 
half a mile to four miles wide and ten miles 
long. As a strategic point, especially after 
the completion of the great Panama Canal, 
it can hardly be excelled. Adjoining, 
shrouded in the sable mantle of night, are 
the Cobre, or Copper, Mountains, reputed to 
be rich in mineral wealth, especially iron and 
copper; and not far off are the rich timber 
lands and the most productive coffee plan- 
tations of Cuba. 

[181] 



The American Tropics 



We began to realize tliat we were leaving 
the tropics; the air was cool and as we sat 
on deck long into the night wraps and 
ulsters were not uncomfortable. Finally the 
Faro Concha light on Cape Maisi, the east- 
ernmost tip of Cuba, about one hundred 
miles from Santiago, was sighted and we left 
the night watch at four bells trusting the 
ship's officers to round the point, or more 
properly double the cape, safely. Some were 
disappointed in not being able to proceed to 
Havana by rail, but most of us were quite 
content, accepted the inevitable with easy 
grace, and were soon lulled to sleep by the 
great rhythmic throbs of the ship 's heart. 

The distance from Cape Maisi to Havana 
is far greater than I had realized and all 
of the following day our course stood north- 
west with an occasional headland or moun- 
tain in the interior of Cuba peeping over our 
port rail. The island is 760 miles long by 
135 miles at its widest part and has an area 
of 43,300 square miles, with a population 
[182] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



of 1,500,000 or less. The northern coast is 
known to be almost uniformly low and flat, 
indented by numerous bays and dotted with 
570 islands or coral keys ; while on the south 
coast there is a veritable galaxy of islets 
which number 730 — the Isle of Pines being 
the largest with an area of 1,214 square 
miles. The sail from Santiago to Havana, by 
way of Faro Concha lighthouse, takes more 
than two nights and a day, and it was not 
until nine o'clock of the second day that 
El Morro of Havana was sighted and at ten 
we entered the harbor between Morro Castle 
and the Punta Battery, steamed past Fort 
Cabanas and the sunken ** Maine" and drop- 
ped anchor in the land-locked bay. It is 
not many years since Havana became the 
Mecca of southern tourists. Previous to this 
the island seemed almost as remote as Spain 
itself and quite as foreign. The transforma- 
tion wrought by the American occupation 
during the past few years has largely been 
directed toward sanitation — of which the 
[183] 



The American Tropics 



place stood much in need. Those who recall 
the Havana of a decade or two ago would 
be surprised at her cleanliness and the ab- 
sence of odors which formerly greeted the 
new arrival. From time immemorial the 
Cuban capital has been associated with the 
idea of disagreeable olfactory sensations and 
dreaded epidemics. It was formerly said 
that ships required no pilot, as the navigator 
in entering had but to follow his nose, and 
its deadly miasms were known to be more 
formidable to the unacclimated, whether 
friend or foe, than Spanish bayonets or El 
Morro's guns. With this condition acting 
as a constant menance to our shores, the 
problem of the American Government next in 
importance after establishing peace and, ap- 
parently, a stable government, was, as in 
the case of Panama, to purge the place of its 
plague spots by modern sanitation. That 
this is no sinecure will be apparent when one 
considers that the soil on which the town 
is built is saturated with the refuse of cen- 
[184] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



turies,. and the stagnant harbor has been a 
dumping pool for four hundred years. But 
Havana the beautiful has washed her face 
and at least looks clean, and the sea breezes 
which sweep over the town and stir up the 
white dust, are no longer befouled by emana- 
tions of decomposing and decomposed mat- 
ter. The task of reconstruction, or rather of 
construction, has just begun, for while an 
abundance of pure water now flows into the 
capital there is no adequate system of sewage 
for a city of, say, about 250,000 inhabitants, 
and the muck-bottomed bay awaits only the 
opportunity to yield up in abundance from 
its storehouse of infection. But to the aver- 
age tourist the quaint, almost uncomfortable 
hotels are just as they were of yore, except- 
ing that their prices are higher, and while 
the house-cleaning process has possibly ren- 
dered Havana less picturesque, yet quite 
enough remains of the laissez faire to sat- 
isfy the most ardent mediaevalist. 

The city was founded in 1519 on a spa-^ 
[185] 



The American Tropics 



cious land-locked harbor which afforded a 
safe haven at a time when typhoons were 
not the greatest danger encountered on the 
high seas. The scene of strife from the be- 
ginning, it has ever since participated in the 
varying fortunes of war. In the last half 
of the sixteenth century the Spaniards began 
the erection of Morro Castle and the Bateria 
de la Punt a on the opposite entrance to the 
harbor to defend the city against the inva- 
sions of the French, English and Dutch. It 
had previously been reduced to ashes by the 
buccaneers in 1528 and sacked by Sores the 
pirate in 1556. These fortifications were not 
completed in their present form until 1625. 
Fort Cabanas dates from a later period 
(1762), and was erected because of the tak- 
ing of El Morro by the English. 

No city of the American continent is richer 
in historic interest than Havana. It was 
selected by Ocampo in 1508 as a careening 
harbor or natural dry dock for his ships, 
hence the name ^'habana,'* haven. From 
[186] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



here Cortes set out in 1519 on his voyage of 
conquest to Mexico, and from this port Pam- 
philo de Narvaez sailed in 1528 for Florida, 
where he was followed eleven years later 
by DeSoto, who traveling westward in search 
of El Dorado, the mythical land of gold, dis- 
covered the Mississippi River instead and 
was drowned therein. In 1762 the English, 
assisted by the Colonial troops from New 
York and New England, captured the city, 
but it was returned to Spain the following 
year in exchange for Florida. 

Originally Havana was a walled city, but 
the town has far outgrown its stone girdle, 
now for the most part demolished. Rem- 
nants of the old wall may still be seen in the 
Plaza de Armas, near the prison, and in the 
rear of the post-office stands the oldest fort- 
ress, constructed in 1558. The space within 
this once walled enclosure may be recog- 
nized by its narrow winding streets, while in 
the newer parts broad thoroughfares and 
gardens render the locality more salubrious 
[187] 



The American Tropics 



as a place of residence. The buildings are of 
stone with a plentiful use of marble, one or 
two stories high, with iron- grated windows, 
some (without glass) much like those in 
other Spanish towns. The Cathedral erected 
by the Jesuits in 1724 possesses some claim 
to architectural beauty, but it is in such close 
proximity to other buildings that it does not 
appear to advantage. It is mainly noted, 
however, for its interior and the niche in 
which the remains of Columbus are supposed 
to have rested from the time of their removal 
from Santo Domingo in 1796 to their final 
departure for Seville in 1899. It is now 
thought that the bones of Columbus still 
repose in the Cathedral at Santo Domingo, 
and those of his son, Don Diego, were re- 
moved by mistake and deposited in the Ca- 
thedral at Havana. Tacon Market, erected 
in 1836, is an imposing structure and the 
Tacon Theatre, built two years later, has a 
seating capacity of 3,000. These structures 
were named in honor of General Miguel Ta- 
[188] 




THE CATHEDRAL, HAVANA. 



A Midwinter Cruise 



con who was Governor of Cuba from 1834 
to 1838. The bull ring and the cock-pit still 
furnish the most popular amusements of the 
Cubans, although jailai has a firm hold on 
the public taste and rivals base-ball in our 
country. Tram-cars traverse the city, and 
take one through the narrowest, most tortuous 
streets to the delightful suburb of Cerro, the 
most beautiful street in Havana, lined with 
attractive villas and gardens, as well as to 
Vedado, Marianao and the Cuban cemetery. 
The cabs of Havana (and those of Naples) 
are in a class by themselves. At one time, 
it is said, they numbered 6,000, and even 
now with the modern competition of the 
electric tram, they are as plentiful as mos- 
quitoes in New Jersey and their charges vai^ 
according to circumstances — from twenty- 
five cents to all the money the passenger 
chances to have with him. As in aU Span- 
ish-American cities it is useful to have some 
practical knowledge of the Spanish language 
— or at least a few words in your vest pocket, 
[189] 



The American Tropics 



so to speak, to utilize in case of necessity. 
Boarding a tram-car one night to return to 
our ship, we were in doubt regarding the 
route the car was taking ; soon, plunging into 
narrow, winding streets, our orientation be- 
came still more uncertain and we consulted 
the conductor who evidently considered it of 
sufficient importance to think about, but 
would not hazard a reply on the spur of the 
moment. Soon the whole car seemed to be 
deeply interested in our needs — I tried boat, 
ship, steamer, bateau, schiff and dampf er, but 
everybody gave it up. It was a conundrum, 
of course, but new to them. The word 
vapor would have relieved our anxiety long 
before the turn which brought us out on 
the quay in full view of our objective point. 
While there are numerous small plazas 
ornamented by statues, the Parque Isabel, 
now called Parque Central, is the fashionable 
center of the city. Here the band plays 
and the people take the air. The Prado and 
the Paseo de Tacon, leading from the center 
[190] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



of the city to the Piinta and more recent 
Malacon, at the west entrance to the harbor, 
is the most pretentious boulevard and fol- 
lows the line of the old city wall. Here, 
too, or close by, are the principal hotels and 
places of amusment, together with the Gov- 
ernment buildings and the residence of the 
Governor- general, with a fine statue of Co- 
lumbus in the courtyard. Farther on is the 
Malacon overlooking the harbor entrance 
and the sea. In the Plaza de Armas there is 
a statue of Ferdinand VII. The shopping 
streets, Obsispo, O'Reilly and Obrapia lead 
off from the Prado and are so narrow that 
awnings are stretched across the street af- 
fording a shade and conspicuous places for 
signs. Mantillas, embroideries, fans and 
Panama hats are the articles most pur- 
chased by tourists. The best Panama hat 
bought on the trip was procured here for 
$35.00. The best bargain counters are found 
in the markets, where every commodity is 
displayed for sale. Of the hospitals the St. 
[191] 



The American Tropics 



Lazaro for lepers is most noted. It was 
founded in 1861 by a leper who left his for- 
tune as a perpetual endowment to the insti- 
tution. The property thus endowed, I was 
told, has since enhanced greatly in value. I 
first visited the hospital in 1891 in company 
with Dr. Burgess, then the American Consul. 
A marked change has taken place since that 
time. Instead of being an asylum, as it then 
was, it has taken on more of the air of an 
institution for treating and caring for the dis- 
ease with modem methods. Formerly seg- 
regation was not compulsory and of the 
estimated two hundred lepers in the city at 
the time of my first visit, but eighty-seven 
were in the St. Lazaro. 

The wealth of the island is derived mainly 
from sugar and tobacco, while grazing is car- 
ried on to a certain extent. Tobacco is 
grown mainly in the Provinces of Pinar del 
Rio, Havana and Santa Clara, in the western 
end of the island. A comparatively small 
acreage, however, (100,000 out of a total of 
[192] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



28,000,000) is devoted to its production. The 
finest quality is grown in the Vnelta Abajo 
district, which covers an area of about ninety 
miles in length by ten in width. The average 
yearly crop for the whole island is about 
62,173,800 pounds, with a total valuation of 
more than $22,000,000. 

In Havana there are many of pure Cas- 
tilian blood, but throughout the island there 
is a more general mingling of races. Un- 
like many of the islands we had visited the 
population of Cuba is preponderatingly 
white or nearly so, only about a third being 
unmistakably black. The aborigines, the 
Indians, have as a race been exterminated. 
That their blood, mingled with that of the 
African and the Spaniard, contributes to form 
the typical Cuban is apparent to the most 
superficial ethnologist. A distinct contrast 
is observed between the Cuban and the Bar- 
badian, much to the disparagement of the 
former. In both there is the same admixture 
of European blood with the native and the 
[193] 



The American Tropics 



negro, but the European from the north is 
quite a different individual from the fierce- 
eyed being who ranges from the fastnesses 
of the Pyrenees to the sunny slopes of the 
Mediterranean. Of course there are fine, cul- 
tured people in Havana, far more than else- 
where on the island, but I am writing of the 
prevailing types. The Cuban bears a strong 
resemblance to his brother encountered on 
the north-eastern spur of the Andes, and 
whether he can ever be induced to conform 
to the usages of the United States, with which 
he is now so closely identified, is a question 
for time to answer. To the casual observer 
it seems that he needs, as in Mexico and 
other Latin- American Countries, a ruler with 
a strong arm and an iron heel. Cuba has 
had strong rulers with powers despotic, but 
none who ruled for Cuba and the Cubans. 

When Columbus first landed on the island, 

which he named Juana, he remarked on the 

gold ornaments worn by the natives which 

excited the cupidity of his followers. They 

[194] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



were given to understand that it came from 
**Ciibanacan" in tlie interior, and Cnbana- 
can, since abbreviated Cuba, has been until 
quite recently the land to which the favor- 
ites of the Spanish crown have gone in quest 
of gold. For four hundred years everything 
in Cubanacan has been subordinate to her 
revenue, the bulk of which has been trans- 
ported to the source of power in Madrid. 
But a new era for Cuba has come, hopes long 
deferred may now be realized and possibili- 
ties arise which heretofore have been only 
dreamed of. 

We were to leave at noon; the town and 
shipping in the bay were gay with flags and 
bunting, the people were in holiday attire, 
for it was the 24th of February. From forts 
and a thousand housetops fluttered the flag 
with a single star. All excepting those in- 
tending to stop over were again on board. 
The band struck up the Cuban national air 
and as the clocks on shore were heard strik- 
ing the hour of twelve, the guns from El 
[195] 



The American Tropics 



Morro and Cabanas let loose followed by 
those of the ''Pilgrim" and the ''Dixie." As 
their smoke cleared away we swung slowly 
around the twisted mass of iron which is 
all that remains of the "Maine," steamed 
past the roaring batteries of Morro and 
Punta and put to sea. 

"Cuba libre" is a reality and this festive 
display and commotion in commemoration 
of her day of freedom did not impress us as 
a formal and soulless holiday, but rather as 
one which actually responded to popular 
feeling. And with this thought we left her. 



[196] 



CHAPTER VIII. 

TO the Bahama Islands belongs the dis- 
tinction of having been the first land 
sighted by Columbus in the New- 
World; a further and less proud claim to 
fame is furnished by their record as a ren- 
dezvous of unsavory pirates for more than 
a century. First occupied by the English in 
1629, they were mainly held by the bucca- 
neers until after the American War of In- 
dependence. Furthermore they afforded an 
asylum for the Loyalists, or those Colonists 
whose sympathies were with the crown in the 
American Revolution, and finally they 
sprang into prominence as a refuge for 
blockade runners and others during the 
American Civil War. At present they are 
scarcely known, with the exception of New 
Providence, which has become a winter re- 
sort for Americans. Stretching south-east- 
ward from the Florida coast for a distance 
of nearly seven hundred miles, they form 
an Atlantic barrier to the Mexican Gulf and 
[197] 



The American Tropics 



finally merge into the Antillean chain. In 
number they exceed three thousand although 
not more than forty have, so far as is known, 
ever been inhabited. 

The largest of the group is Andros Island 
which is ninety miles long by twenty to 
forty miles wide and contains about five 
hundred square miles — the smallest has never 
been named. There are many small islets, 
called cays, and others still more diminutive 
which must remain content with the gen- 
eric term of rocks. Andros Island, in com- 
mon with others of the group, is low, 
swampy, thickly wooded and is intercepted 
by the only fresh water streams and lakes 
found in the Bahamas. These abound in 
ducks and other wild fowl, and the island 
would be a sportsman's paradise were it not 
for the mosquitoes, compared with which 
their Jersey cousins are said to be silken- 
winged messengers of peace. The greater 
part is still unexplored, and the negroes have 
a superstition that the wooded interior is 
[198] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



inhabited by ''Yahoos" or wild Indians. Its 
present population is about 3,400. We saw 
Andros and a few small islets from a dis- 
tance the day after leaving Havana, and her 
coral strand, reflecting the noon-day sun, 
shone white and glistening. Soon after the 
island of New Providence appeared under 
our bows and at one o'clock we dropped 
anchor about a mile from Nassau under the 
protection of a narrow coral reef known lo- 
cally as Hog Island. 

While there are many larger islands none 
are of so much importance as New Provi- 
dence. Its name was bestowed by an Eng- 
lishman, probably a native of the Isle of 
Man, Captain William Sayle, who, in 1667, 
was driven from his course by a severe 
storm and instead of landing at Carolina, 
whither he was bound, he found himself 
among the treacherous reefs of the Bahamas. 
He succeeded in finding a protected anchor- 
age and landed on an island which he named 
in commemoration of his deliverance, Prov- 
[199] 



The American Tropics 



idence, and to distinguish it from other 
places of the same name on the Atlantic sea- 
board, the prefix, New, was afterward added. 
That many of the islands had previously been 
named made no appreciable difference either 
to the Spaniards who discovered them or to 
the English who colonized them. The Baha- 
mas were called Lucayos by the native In- 
dians, while even the San Salvador of the 
Spaniards is now known by the less euphoni- 
ous term of Watlings Island. The escape of 
Captain Sayle from New Providence was 
more providential than he seemed to realize, 
for it was infested by pirates of the worst 
description. On returning to England he 
gave so favorable an account of the islands, 
which at that time were not claimed by any 
of the powers, that Charles II gave them to 
certain noblemen called Proprietory Lords, 
who for half a century attempted their col- 
onization. Finally, after years of contention 
and bloodshed, the pirates capitulated on re- 
ceiving promise of the royal pardon. But 
[200] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



while . many of their numerous descendents 
remained to build up the infant colony, the 
unbridled life of adventure proved too al- 
luring for sLich notorious free-booters as 
Vane and Teach, who soon took to the high 
seas and resumed their former occupation. 
Edward Teach, who was the real Blackbeard 
of the castle at St. Thomas, had the reputa- 
tion among those who knew him of being 
His Satanic Majesty incarnate, and many 
stories of his insatiable cruelty are still ex- 
tant. Teach 's fourteenth wife is said to have 
been the beautiful sixteen-year-old daughter 
of a Carolina planter, and was treated so 
cruelly that even his crew would have re- 
monstrated had they dared. It is comfort- 
ing to know, even at this late date, that 
Teach 's head and long black whiskers finally 
graced the bowsprit of Lieutenant Maynard's 
sloop when it landed in Virginia on Novem- 
ber 21, 1717. 

New Providence possesses the only harbor 
for ships drawing as much as fifteen feet 
[201] 



The American Tropics 



of water and is the island on which Nassau, 
the capital of the Bahamas, named in honor 
of the Hanoverian Dynasty and the oldest as 
well as the largest town of the whole island 
galaxy, is situated. It is about twenty miles 
long by five miles wide, and in its some 
eighty-five square miles of territory contains a 
fourth of the entire population of the group. 
There is a marked difference between the 
mountainous islands of volcanic formation 
we had previously seen and these low-lying 
coral reefs, the highest bluff of which is not 
more than one hundred and thirty feet 
above the sea. Nassau, containing about 
1,400 inhabitants, one-fifth of whom call 
themselves white, is prettily situated on the 
north side of the island on a gentle slope 
embedded in tropical green. The most 
noticeable objects are the two large hotels, the 
Royal Victoria and the Colonial, and around 
them is concentrated the real, active life of 
the place. The former was built in 1860 by 
the Colonial Government to accommodate 
[202] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



the influx of ^'guests" during the conflict be- 
tween the blue and the gray. During this 
time, when the ports of the southern states 
were closed to commerce, Nassau, being an 
English port, and only a hundred and sev- 
enty-five miles from the Florida coast, was 
the scene of unwonted activity. Not since 
the boisterous days of the buccaneers had 
the old town been the center of such lavish 
** prosperity." At this time it is said for- 
tunes were quickly made and ^'the Bahama 
treasury overflowed with gold." The Colo- 
nial deficit which had been augmented year 
by year until it amounted to £47,786 in 1860 
was soon wiped out, and according to Stark, 
the rich and dashing men in gray were the 
social lions of the day and were courted and 
feted by the high dignitaries of both church 
and state. With the fall of the Southern 
Confederacy in 1865 New Providence settled 
into her accustomed tranquility. Some say 
even that a reaction followed from which 
she has never fully recovered. It is known, 
[203] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



however, that she was visited the following 
year by a destructive hurricane which up- 
rooted fruit trees, devastated plantations 
and wrecked shipping. At the present time 
it is generally admitted that the Bahamas 
are not enjoying the highest state of pros- 
perity ; but this can be readily accounted for 
upon consideration of the ethnological drift 
of the inhabitants, who, while not wholly 
reverted to the original type of the majority, 
yet present a compromise which is not con- 
ducive to the greatest thrift and highest ma- 
terial success. 

On landing, the quaint streets with their 
diminutive shops were soon alive with tour- 
ists. The Colonial Hotel, the only one open 
at the time, was the objective point for al- 
most every one. It is under American man- 
agement and presents a most attractive ap- 
pearance. Situated near the water, with 
broad verandas, surrounded by tropical 
gardens in the highest state of cultivation, 
it must be a delightful harbor of refuge to 
[204] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



those 'dwellers in the northland who wish to 
escape the rigors of winter or long for a 
glimpse of real sunshine. But more attrac- 
tive than the odd, orderly streets, the sponge 
market or the fruit vender's carts was the 
huge ceiba or silk-cotton tree which stands 
in Court-house Square. It was not the tall- 
est but certainly the most striking specimen 
of tropical flora we had seen. 

There are many things to entertain the 
visitor at Nassau, boating, driving, golfing, 
or sitting tranquilly in the shade just breath- 
ing the air. That last mentioned seems to be 
the most popular recreation of the real Ba- 
hamains, those long inured to the perennial 
sun. Into this dream-like existence one 
from the busy, work-a-day world may come 
with both pleasure and profit. Of course 
every one visits the Sea Gardens and on a 
dark night the Waterloo or Fire Lake is con- 
sidered one of the wonders of the place. 
*'Only a dollar, Sir! and if you don't feel 
you've got yer money's worth, or if I don't 
[205] 



The American Tropics 



show you everytMng I'll give back y'r 
money, Sir!" With these assurances — re- 
peated with various modifications until the 
small glass-bottomed boat was full — ^who 
could fail to see these natural marine won- 
ders? A steam launch makes the trip in 
about an hour. They are certainly worth 
seeing and in coloring are more striking 
than those of Catalina Island off the 
coast of southern California. The latter, in 
common with the flora of the Pacific slope, 
presents a more vigorous growth. The 
schools of beautifully colored fish also seemed 
more plentiful in the marine gardens of the 
Pacific. When everyone was peering in- 
tently to catch the last view of what looked 
like a marine flower garden, we were startled 
to see a huge form, black as ebony, with 
blinking eyes, swimming across our field of 
view. The water was so transparent we 
could see plainly that it was a negro swim- 
mer but '*whar he cum fum" was not so ap- 
parent until he clambered over the side of 
[206] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



our boat, wlien we saw that it was our own 
man Friday, who, after the full complement 
of passengers had been secured, seemed to be 
the chief factotum of the boat. This was 
the final and most realistic touch of the Sea 
Gardens. 

Of course everyone goes to the fruit plan- 
tation on Hog Island, where transportation 
and fruit ad libitum are furnished for the 
consideration of one shilling. ''Take dis 
nice boat, Sah! Abraham Lincoln, dah an 
back wid all de awnges, pineapples an' cocoa- 
nuts yo' can eat, Sah! an' all fo' quawteh, 
Sah ! Yo ' make no mistake, Sah ! ' ' 

A very conscientious friend tendered his 
quarter to Mr. Higgs, the proprietor of the 
plantation, as is the custom, spoke dispar- 
agingly of the small sum and almost remon- 
strated, saying that he should pay more as 
he had eaten so freely of fruit — ^in fact felt 
that he had eaten too much. "Oh, never 
mind," replied the incorruptible though la- 
conic Mr. Higgs, ''it's called Hog Island." 
[2071 



The American Tropics 



The second island in size is Abaco, which 
comprises in fact two islands, Great and Lit- 
tle Abaco, together with numerous adjacent 
islets or cays. Altogether they have an area 
of 496,700 acres, with a population somewhat 
greater than that of Andros. The main pro- 
duction is sisal grass, which is used as a sub- 
stitute for hemp. Some cotton and pine- 
apples are likewise cultivated. Green Tur- 
tle Cay, with about 1,700 inhabitants, is the 
port of entry as well as the largest settle- 
ment on the island. 

Abaco offers an interesting sociological 
proposition. The British Government gave 
the island to certain Loyalists as an indem- 
nity for their plantations in the Carolinas 
which had been confiscated by the American 
Government. Many of these colonists were 
of Scotch birth, while a few Irish families 
were among them. After most of the dash- 
ing ''sea-gentlemen" had been led to "Ex- 
ecution Dock," or otherwise exterminated, 
these islands had little or no communication 



[208] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



worth gpeaMng of with the outside world. 
True to the traditions of his clan the ** Un- 
speakable Scot" remained, and the son of 
Erin retained his brogue. They married and 
intermarried until at the present time the 
white inhabitants are all more or less re- 
lated. It has been their pride, to which they 
have clung with the tenacity of their race, 
to keep the line of their descent free from 
the admixture of negro blood. This they 
have done for more than a century and a 
quarter, but unless outside aid come they will 
be as pebbles lost in the sands before many 
generations. 

Nearer the Florida coast lies the small 
island of Benini, where tradition located the 
Fountain of Youth in search of which, you 
remember, Ponce de Leon accidentally dis- 
covered Florida, and instead of securing the 
means of perpetuity was killed by a poisoned 
arrow from the bow of an Indian. 

Since the abolition of slavery in the Ba- 
hamas in 1834, many of the plantations in the 



[209] 



The American Tropics 



various islands have gone to waste, and fish- 
ing, sponge gathering and wrecking, to which 
both by tradition and inheritance the in- 
habitants incline most naturally, have been 
resorted to as a means of gaining a liveli- 
hood. A visitor relates that he once at- 
tended a prayer meeting on one of the isl- 
ands, which promptly adjourned on hearing 
that a large yacht had foundered on a nearby 
reef. Instead of lending a helping hand in 
time of need the erstwhile devout fell to with 
all the wrecking instincts of their ancestors 
fully revived. It is further said that a 
strong opposition was encountered to the 
erection of lighthouses, as they interfered, 
it was alleged, with certain just and inalien- 
able prerogatives, and deprived many from 
earning an honest living from the wrecks 
which an all-seeing Providence had brought 
to their shores — and they were of frequent 
occurrence among these treacherous reefs. 

On sentimental grounds, probably the most 
interesting island of the Bahamas is Watlings 

[210] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



Island or what is thought to be the San Sal- 
vador of the Spaniards. It was here that 
Columbus first set foot on land and took for- 
mal possession of the new world in the name 
and under the banner of the sovereigns of 
Spain. The distance from Nassau is one hun- 
dred and eighty miles. 

I was particularly fortunate in making 
the trip in a fast steam yacht. Ordinarily 
one must wait to catch a small freighter 
that occasionally makes a circuitous route 
stopping at various ports of call. But to go 
comfortably and quickly, that is quite a 
different thing. We steamed out of Nassau 
long before daybreak on the morning fol- 
lowing our arrival and passed ^^our own 
boat" silently sleeping at her moorings. 
She had met with some derangement of her 
machinery, whatever the cause, and instead 
of a few hours our stay might be prolonged 
to several days. The first land sighted was 
Harbor Island, which next to New Provi- 
dence contains the largest settlement, Dun- 
[211] 



The American Tropics 



more Town, in the Bahamas. It is about one 
and one-half miles square. We had thus 
far stood north-east but after doubling 
Bridge Point we took a southeastern course 
with the long low-lying coast line of Eleu- 
thera Island on our starboard beam. The 
island is celebrated for a peculiar cliff facing 
the Atlantic, called the Glass Window. Cat 
Island appeared on the horizon about three 
o'clock in the afternoon. It is mainly noted 
as being a rival claimant for the honor of 
being the Guanahani of the native Indians 
and the San Salvador of Columbus. This 
claim was greatly strengthened by the opin- 
ion of such noted travelers as Humboldt and 
Washington Irving. More recent observa- 
tions have shown this claim untenable from 
the description given of San Salvador in 
Columbus's Journal. 

For several hours we seemed to live again 

the life of the great Genoese pilot, so intent 

were we on every recorded circumstance 

available. The cruise was rendered more 

[212] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



realistic by the size of our boat, although 
larger than the Nina in which the great 
navigator sailed, yet in comparison with the 
one to which we had grown accustomed it 
seemed too diminutive to tempt the uncer- 
tainties of the Atlantic. Fortunately no bad 
weather was encountered and aside from a 
marked ''unsteadiness" no discomfort was 
felt. Late in the afternoon the sharp look- 
out, which everyone kept, was rewarded by 
the cry of ' ' Land ahead ! " As we approached 
the island the British flag was made out 
fluttering from a pole and, rounding a coral 
reef called Eiding Rock Point, we entered 
the bay in which Columbus is thought to 
have anchored on that eventful Friday morn- 
ing, October 12th, 1492. On landing, how- 
ever, we were brought back four hundred 
and fifteen years by being greeted by the 
port officer, a white man, and a crowd of 
negroes of all sizes and degrees of color. 
Captain Maxwell Nairn, the port officer, 
magistrate, treasurer and most of the other 
[2131 



The American Tropics 



high offices of state combined, has lived there 
many years and was until recently the only 
white man on the island. He reminded me 
of Father Duncan of Metlakahtla, Alaska, 
surrounded by his faithful followers. His 
lot seemed on the whole better than that of 
Robinson Crusoe, and he too was lord of all 
he surveyed, but even being the first man 
must be lonely in the extreme. Watlings 
Island is about half the size of the Isle of 
Man and differs from it in another important 
particular — not having any indigenous bob- 
tail cats. The island has a negro population 
of somewhat over six hundred. Formerly 
it was noted for its breed of horses, but at 
the present time fruits anS salt are the prin- 
cipal products exported. 

On an eminence above the bay is a stone 
shaft erected in 1891 by some enterprising 
Americans in commemoration of Christopher 
Columbus's discovery of America. On a 
tablet is the following inscription: 



[214] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



ON THIS SPOT 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 

FIRST SET FOOT ON THE SOIL OF 

THE NEW WORLD. 

ERECTED BY THE 

CHICAGO HERALD 

JUNE IS, 1891. 

Now that I have seen where America was 
discovered, all doubts concerning the event 
have vanished and tales of previous discov- 
eries, including the claim of Amerigo Yespuc- 
ei, seem too indefinite to consider. Even the 
locating of the exact spot first discovered, 
by a newspaper from the breezy metropolis 
of the Middle West, does not shake my cred- 
ulity, and I feel after this supreme test that 
my faith is unassailable. Returning as we 
had come, it was a great relief to find ''our 
own boat" still standing as we had left her, 
but not a moment too soon had we returned 
for her steam was up and she was about to 
start on her homeward run. 

There was a pleasurable feeling of antici- 
[215] 



The American Tropics 



pation mingled with a languid sense of mel- 
ancholy as we cleared the treacherous reefs 
of Abaco and with full steam ahead held 
our course due north. 

The Antilla of the ancients and El Dorado 
of the conquistadores, the land of golden 
promise — ^where gushed the fountain of per- 
petual youth! Four hundred and fifteen 
years have wrought many striking changes 
in that expanse of a new world but little 
known, yet at one time supposed to be 
limited only by the setting sun. It was not 
of these striking epochs in which history is 
made that thought stole upon me like the 
breath of the north-wind, but rather it was 
of those silent, never ceasing forces which 
go on shaping the destinies of men and na- 
tions that I mused as I watched the last 
shore line sink behind the horizon. Of what 
use, thought I, are vain struggles against the 
irresistible laws of the Infinite? We worry 
over race questions and a thousand and one 
problems with which in truth we have noth- 

[216] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



ing to do. For to a certain extent all must 
admit we are creatures of circumstance. The 
page is unfinished but sufficient has been 
written to enable one to form a fair concep- 
tion concerning the final destiny, ethnologi- 
cally and politically, of these so-called Is- 
lands of the Blest. By the methods of what is 
called civilization, especially by the aggres- 
sive participant, the original inhabitants of 
the Caribbean islands have been extermi- 
nated as a people. With treachery, cruelty 
and murder, the pale-face came and con- 
quered. Enslaved the native American 
would not be — the alternative was death. 
But with the torrid heat and deadly plague, 
the mines discovered remained un worked, 
and the land while teeming with vegetable 
possibilities was unproductive. The need of 
workers, however, was soon supplied and 
this reciprocity grew until the settlement of 
slavery in tropical America was complete. 
The effect was two-fold: to the blacks the 
climate was congenial and healthful; as so 
[217] 



The American Tropics 



much property their propagation was profit- 
able and therefore encouraged. Taken from 
the jungle, they were forced to acquire a 
certain manual proficiency, some even be- 
came skilled in the various crafts, and all 
soon acquired the first step in mental im- 
provement, the language of a civilized coun- 
try. 

Their days of bondage were in truth the 
schooldays of an infant people, and their en- 
vironment was probably the schoolroom 
from which they could derive the greatest 
good. Thus, line upon line and precept upon 
precept until their emancipation, their grad- 
uation — and how many diplomas are given 
for a less degree of improvement ! 

We may now consider very briefly the 
effect of the climate and surroundings on the 
status of the white man. The emigrant is 
not always the renegade he is often pictured, 
especially by his home government. On the 
contrary he is more frequently a man of pow- 
er, of reliance, and, both mentally and physi- 
[218] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



cally,'is likely to be superior to his brother 
who stays at home. That the men who col- 
onized the islands of tropical America were 
from the best available class we have reason 
to believe. Where are they to-day? In the 
West Indies and Bahamas the line of the 
early white settlers is either hopelessly 
merged into that forming the great major- 
ity, or, broken in health, the colonist re- 
turned to his fatherland to avert the inevi- 
table. 

The brilliant results obtained in the Pan- 
ama Canal Zone have stimulated the hope 
that since man has rid the torrid zone of its 
most deadly pests and has rendered living in 
the tropics not only safe, but agreeable, it 
will become the belt of the world's greatest 
activity and that cities will arise rivaling the 
great centers of civilization of antiquity. 
That the torrid zone needs an occasional vis- 
itation of the energy of the temperate zone 
to infuse life and to direct modem methods, 
is true. This has been amply demonstrated 
[219] 



The American Tropics 



in the Canal Zone. But that the Caucasian 
can thrive in low altitudes of the equatorial 
belt or the negro in the colder portions of the 
globe, is contrary to observation thus far 
obtained. It seems, therefore, that the low- 
lands of the torrid zone are destined to be 
peopled by the black or dark-skinned races, 
while the light-skinned will continue to find 
in a temperate climate the environment most 
conducive to their perfect development. 

One of the most primitive races has been 
slowly raised to a higher grade in the scale 
of being within the short period of a few 
centuries of Caucasian occupancy, whether 
of pirate or of planter. That the quest of 
wealth or adventure offered the necessary 
stimulus does not lessen the service that this 
missionary, unconscious of his office, has ren- 
dered. Left to natural influences, the race 
question in its broad sense, will, in time, solve 
itself. To strive against it is futile. 

It was with a keen sense of enthusiasm 
that on the third morning the snow^clad 
[220] 



A Midwinter Cruise 



Jersey coast was sighted, and, preparing to 
circumvent that modern pirate of the Amer- 
ican custom house, one began to realize, that^ 
viewed through the crystallized vapor of the 
frost king, life after all is a stern reality, and 
not the peaceful elysium it had seemed 
through the golden haze of many days and 
in the starlit watches of as many nights. 



[221] 



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